Game Over
by Swirlee
Summary: Marie was a normal girl who had a normal family and lived a normal life. When she plays the final level of Kingdom Hearts something happens, and her life is changed forever. OCxSora
1. Chapter One: I don't know what's real

**Disclaimer:  
**I **Do not** own Kingdom Hearts.

* * *

**Chapter One: I don't know what's real anymore.**

The sooner I got home, the better.

I _needed_ to come home and finish off that last level of Kingdom Hearts.

I know, the game's real old and everyone either has an Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. But when my friend Terra told me that I was missing out not playing the game I decided to go along and play it. Now I'm hooked on it and I have never played my PlayStation 2 longer than I have playing Kingdom Hearts.

"Mom, are we there yet?" I asked for the umpteenth time.

"Marie Hill, if you ask that question one more time I'm not making you any brownies when we get home," she threatened.

"...Fine," I grumbled.

"Oooh, mom turn up the radio!" Stella, my older sister, said. "I love this song."

when my mom turned up the radio the song 'Shark in the water' by VV Brown was playing.

"Oh, it's the degrassi song!" I exclaimed. The ride home suddenly didn't seem so long after that, as me and my sister kept singing the song over and over again even after the actual song ended.

Soon enough, after singing 'Shark in the water' so many times, we made it home. You know, sometimes it sucks being a girl. That car ride I was in? Yeah I went to go shopping with my mom and sister. Now don't get me wrong, I like to shop, but when you have two overly girly girls ogling at which outfit is cuter, it's annoying.

As I entered the house I was greeted by my dad, and then he went outside to help my mom with her bags.

I went into the living room and saw my brother playing Modern Warfare 2 with his friends, they were getting angry at the campers in the online multi-player game. I used to play Modern Warfare 2, but when everyone got angry over nothing it started to bother me, so I sold it and used the money to buy Kingdom Hearts.

Oh and let me tell you, that Sora kid? He seems a bit too nice for my liking. I understand his 'sense of justice' thing, but I'm not to keen on his wimpy attitude. But that's just me I guess.

But I figured he would be like that because of his adventure, I would be like that too, maybe. Well, overall I think he's okay for a video game character. Which reminds me, I gotta finish that last level. I've tried so many times that it's ridiculous, I even went all out and leveled Sora till he was level 99. even then I couldn't finish off Ansem. So I got pretty irritated and stopped playing for a week.

"Hey Marie, happy early birthday!" my thoughts were interrupted when I heard Dustin, my older brother.

"Why are you telling me this now when you can say it tomorrow?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot you live here," he said. Really? I'm a little embarrassed to call him my brother sometimes. I saw my brother's friend William face palm at him.

"How can you forget!" I shouted.

"Well you're always playing that Kingdom Hearts game that you barely make any noise," he scratched the back of his head, realizing that what he said before was stupid.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, if you need me, which I doubt, I'll be in my room and continue to be non-existent," I said as I stomped my way to my room. I looked back and saw William laugh as Dustin rolled his eyes.

Dustin is 19 years old, brown hair, green eyes and tanned skin. He's real smart in his studies, but when it comes to practical stuff he's pretty dumb. My sister is the opposite, she's 17, medium wavy blonde hair, brown eyes and fair-skinned. She's not so smart at her studies, but she knows everything else that isn't school related.

I'm 13, well 14 tomorrow, short blonde hair, green eyes and neutrally pale? Meh whatever. I don't really care about school, malls or any of that stuff. It's just me and my video games. But if I'd have to talk about that stuff I'd say I'm average at school, usually getting 70-80% on my report cards. And I have two best friends, Terra and Ella. We're not all the way down the food chain as far as popularity goes, but we're not at the top either. I'd say we're in between.

My brother's on the soccer team, so he's well known around his campus, and my sister is also well known. I was suppose to go to her high school, but it didn't have that french immersion program, so I went to another high school.

Well anyways, back to my current dilemma. Kingdom Hearts.

I popped in the disc and waited for the main menu to show up. When it did my bedroom lights started to flicker. Dammit, that electricity guy does a horrible job with the lights. I try to ignore it and continue playing, but they keep distracting me while I play.

As the lights stop flickering, I reach an area and immediately start fighting some monster called Chernabog.

**Oh crap.**

I forgot to equip Sora's ultimate weapon.

Oh well, I'll equip it when I fight Ansem. I'll _really_ need it when I fight him, though every time I fight him I always forget.

Maybe that's why I always lose...

Anyway, as I'm halfway through the battle with Chernabog, the lights start to flicker again. And when I reach the door to the final level, my T.V and lights go out.

"Stupid electricity guy can't do anything right!" I yelled. Seriously though, he spent like four hours fixing our lights and they're still messed up.

I noticed something though, when I yelled I didn't hear the usual "don't yell in the house!" from my mom. I got up from the floor and went to check what was up.

Although, I think I should have stayed in my room.

As I entered the hallway, everything turned weird. The clock on the wall didn't move, the fishes in the fish tank also froze in place too. I was about to panic, but figured it was maybe a prank my brother was pulling on me? Hopefully.

I went downstairs and I saw my brother and his friend on the couch. I ran up to him but I was traumatized at what I saw.

My brother was sitting on the couch, tossing a cookie in his mouth, and the cookie stopped midway. My brother didn't move either, I kept poking him but nothing worked. I looked over and saw William standing still with two soda cans in his hand. I started to freak out.

I ran to the phone and tried dialing 911, but the buttons wouldn't bulge! I threw the phone in frustration and ran to the kitchen to grab my dad's cell phone since that's where he keeps it. But when I entered the room, there stood my mom,_frozen_ at the sink cleaning dishes. My dad was sitting on the table reading the newspaper, his face was still.

What the heck was happening! Why was everything still, as if frozen in time. I started to hyperventilate, this wasn't happening, this _couldn't_ be happening!

I ran upstairs, and went to check on my sister, my last hope of what's real or not anymore.

….But that last hope I was clinging for died. My sister was sitting on her chair, and holding a lipstick on her hand. She was also still, and looked at the mirror. I leaned against the wall, but the fear and shock made me drop to the floor. My breathing was irregular and I couldn't control it.

As I looked at my sister I noticed her eyes shifted from the mirror to me. I screamed out of fear and ran to my room. I tripped over my wires, and fell to the floor. I didn't want to get up, no, I wanted to stay on the floor. I began to breathe even more rapidly and unevenly, my hands started to twitch and my body was shaking.

I was having an anxiety attack.

I usually get them when I'm left alone, but this one is really horrible. I felt like crying and wanted to catch my breath but I couldn't. I could only look around my room and try to look for something to help me. Of course nothing helpful was around, I count on my mom to help me with these attacks!

As it gets harder to breathe and I feel like I'm dying, I begin to hear a voice.

_'There is no light to protect where you will go.'_

_'But do not fear.'_

_'Your heart is your weapon.'_

_'And you, along with him, are the ones who will open the door to the light.'_

the lights begin to flicker and my T.V suddenly turns on. The main menu to the Kingdom Hearts game appears and the colours on the T.V begin to distort. I start hearing music from the game, what was it called, treasured memories?

I can't think.

My mind's...all hazy.

I'm...getting...sleepy.

What's...going...on?

* * *

First chapter done!

If you want to know how Marie looks like, check her out on my deviantArt, the username is SWIRL3Y and there are many pictures of her there. Or go to my profile to check out the pictures!


	2. Chapter Two: no longer in Toronto

**Chapter Two: I don't think I'm in Toronto anymore.**

I awoke from my slumber after being kissed by my prince charming.

Pfft, yeah right. I _wish_.

I was lying on the floor. Where people stand and walk and do whatever they do on pavement floors. Blegh.

I got up and looked around, everything looked oddly _familiar_. I tried getting a sense as to how I got here, but when nothing came I looked at my watch. I sighed.

I've been sleeping for a day, and today was my birthday. What a way to spend my birthday, away from home and somewhere in nowhere land. Just wait till I tell my friends about this, they'll probably laugh and call me crazy, which also reminded me. What's happening back at home? Are they still frozen? Or did they revert back to normal and noticed that I'm gone?

I wanted to know what was going on, but then I realized.

That voice.

That stupid, good-for-nothing voice that made me fall asleep. I also realized now that I'm not in Toronto, I'm not even in _Canada_. I doubt Canada had any places that looked this gloomy. I started to walk around, and found some kids playing with little bouncy balls. I began to walk towards them, but they started to run somewhere else, and I wasn't going to chase them. I sighed, damn kids, and then i walked somewhere, I didn't know where, but anywhere where there was people was fine.

I headed to to what seemed the town square. I looked around to see if there was anyone I could bug about this place, I didn't see anyone, but something caught my eye.

I saw little black things walking around, they looked familiar too! They're bodies were shadowy, and they're feet were pointed, and they also wore a helmet! It was then that I realized...

I was in Kingdom Hearts.

But how could that have happened? Was that even possible? What the hell! First my anxiety attack, then _this_? and on my birthday! I really was not in a good mood.

And to make things worse that heartless, a soldier if I recall, started stalking it's way over to me!

With no one to shout to I tried keeping my cool, but as it got closer and closer I slowly felt myself slipping into another anxiety attack. I wasn't liking how this was going, but I needed to stay calm. If I had an anxiety attack now I could be dead within the next few minutes! So I quickly thought of something, anything to protect me! I ran to the nearest wall, and hid myself from the heartless, I don't think it saw me move. I looked over and saw that it was confused, maybe it didn't see me after all?

I looked at it still being confused, this was a soldier, they were the weakest second only to the shadows. Maybe I could kill it? But with what? I looked over and saw a rock near me, oh yeah. Bludgeon the thing with a tiny rock, that'll knock him dead for _sure_. As I peered over my shoulder and looked for the shadow, it wasn't in anywhere in sight.

I sighed, maybe it got tired of looking? I hope so. I got up and walked near the fountain in the middle, as I made my way there however I heard a noise. I turned my myself slightly and noticed a soldier running directly towards me, and at a rapid speed. I had nothing to protect me, the only thing I could do was just stand and wait for my doom. Was this the end? Am I really going to die in a video game on my birthday? Do I fail that epically!

As it jumped in the air I immediately covered my face, not wanting it to be the first thing it attacked.

But then suddenly, everything began to slow down. I saw, at a slow speed, the soldier a few inches away from me. I didn't know what was happening, my mind was processing too many things too fast yet I was seeing things so _slowly_. I felt my anxiety act up, and I started to hyperventilate. Great, I was going to die in a video game while having an anxiety attack, **ON MY BIRTHDAY**.

The soldier was barely in inch away from my face, and then I saw a ball of light appear before me. It was small, but then it burst, blinding me for a moment while pushing the soldier back a few ways.

I rubbed my eyes, and what I saw could be the coolest thing I've seen so far.

A Keyblade appeared right in front of me.

It was shaped differently than any of the Keyblades that I've seen Sora with. The blade was the gradient of purple, the tip was a plum colour and it got darker as it made its way down. The tip of the blade curved and inside was a golden crescent moon with a golden star in the middle. The bottom of the blade had silver stars scattered all over, and the end of the handle had a star with silver and gold points. There were wings that started from the base of the blade and reached the end of the handle.

I took the sword and looked at it for a moment. Despite all the things it had on it, it wasn't very heavy. Of course, I don't even know how to use it. But then I heard a voice.

_Witness the power of the Starseeker Keyblade._

A little ball of light formed in front of the sword, and then a ray of light came bursting out of it. The heartless that was running to me again completely disappeared when he was hit by the light. My mouth flung open at the sheer power of this blade, that was amazingly incredible.

The Keyblade now known as Starseeker, disappeared and transformed itself into a necklace of a small golden crescent moon attached to a silver star. I touched the necklace, this was unbelievable. I have a Keyblade!

I placed the necklace around my neck, and continued walking around. My only concern about having a Keyblade was that I would have to learn how to use it, and I've never held a weapon before in my life!

It was a long time since I've visited Traverse Town in the video game, so I forgot which way was which. So I just decided to roam around until I found someone I knew, preferably Sora, Donald or Goofy. I have a feeling I'll be with them throughout this journey.

**Traverse Town Hotel**

**xx  
**

**Sora, Yuffie and Leon**.

A young boy lay on the bed of the hotel. An older looking man with shoulder length hair and blue eyes and a notable scar between his eyes leaned against the wall. He worse a white shirt covered by a black jacket, he has black pants and wore many belts. He also had black shoes and gloves.

A young girl also stood near the older looking man, she had short dark brown hair and dark blue eyes. She wore a a headband, and a yellow scarf. She wore a green tube top that were held up with two blue straps, she had short yellow shorts on with a blue belt around it. She also wore a creamy pair of stockings and big orange shoes. She also had orange fingerless gloves.

"I'm so glad you're okay, Kairi," the young boy said aloud in his sleep. The young girl raised a brow at the young boy.

"Kairi? Who are you talking about? I'm the great ninja Yuffie," she placed a hand on her chest out of pride. The boy's eyes suddenly opened up widely, and got up. He saw the the young girl, now named Yuffie and the older looking man.

"I think you might've overdone it, Squall," Yuffie told the older looking man, now named Squall.

"That's Leon," the man, now named Leon instead of Squall said.

Yuffie turned over to the boy, "we had to get the Keyblade away from you to shake off those creatures. It turns out that's how they were tracking you."

"It was the only way to conceal your heart from them. But it won't work for long. Still hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one," Leon said. He picked up the Keyblade, and it disappeared from his hands. It reappeared in Sora's hand.

"Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers," he continued.

The young boy grew furious, "Why don't you start making sense! What's going on here?" he yelled.

Leon sighed and began telling the young boy about the heartless.

** Traverse Town Square**

**xx  
**

**Marie.**

I continued walking around, and saw no one I knew. Of course, I wouldn't know anyone if I was actually _part_ of the game. But since I've played it, I know everyone, well not really. I only really know Aerith, Yuffie and Leon and Cid. And that was because...um, actually, never mind.

I walked and walked until I started to see pink, and then I realized. Aerith wears pink! I started running towards her, but then I slowed down. How was I going to even approach her? It's not like I can say, "Hey Aerith I come from Earth! You're world and all the other worlds don't exist where I come from!" she'd think I was crazy or something. I looked over and noticed that Donald and Goofy were with her too, and then I thought of something.

I'll just play dumb and ask where I am, and then they'll ask where I'm from and then things will just smoothly play along like how the game does. Yeah, that was a great idea! I fixed myself so that I looked confused and slightly scared, I was already, but I needed to look more so that I could convince them

I walked up to them, and I noticed Aerith looking at me. She gave me a smile, and not a regular smile. It was like a, I-know-you're-not-from-here-and-I-know-you-have-a-Keyblade smile. Which kinda freaked me out. But I ignored and continued my facade.

"U-um, excuse me?" I asked, making I sounded confused and scared. "Do you know where I am?"

"You're in Traverse Town, why? Are you lost?" Aerith asked.

"I don't know, there isn't a Traverse Town where I live," I pretended to look like I was about to cry.

"Gawrsh, then where are you from?" Goofy asked, being polite as usual.

"I'm live on Jane street, but I can't seem to find it anywhere," I started to rub my eye, for added effect.

Donald had a suspicious look on his face, and motioned Aerith and Goofy into a huddle, "do you think she's from another world?" he asked.

"It kinda seems like it," Goofy added.

"Yes, I can sense that she's not from here," she closed her eyes for a second and then opened them, "she also has the 'key'."

"WHAT!" shouted Donald, which made me stagger a bit. I always found his voice to be annoying, and if given the chance, I would smack him and tell him not to talk at all.

"Yes, I'm assuming she is the 'key' you guys are looking for," Aerith said.

"Well that can't be right," Goofy said. "The letter said that we should find 'him'."

"Yeah, it didn't tell us anything about finding a girl!" Donald shouted again, and it caught my attention.

"Maybe the King made a mistake?" added Goody, which caused Donald to hit him.

"The King never makes mistakes!" yelled Donald. Seriously, anything that duck said I always heard. He was so damn loud, I just wanted to tell him to shut up. But as I was about to even say anything, I saw a group of shadows creeping from the floor. I gasped, catching the attention of Donald, Goofy and Aerith.

"Heartless!" yelled Donald. Goody readied himself as he placed his shield in front of him, and Donald took out his staff.

I was left in the dark as they started to fight them off, but more kept appearing. I wanted to help fight, help them kill off those shadows. As my feelings of helping them grew stronger I felt my necklace light up, and then my Keyblade appeared in front of me.

"Look, Donald it's the key!" shouted Goofy.

"Aerith, you were right!" Donald shouted as well.

"So you also wield a Keyblade as I suspected," Aerith said. I was about to say something witty, but then I forgot that I had to pretend not to know anything.

"Keyblade? You mean this thing?" I waved the blade in front of her. "It just appeared to me not too long ago, I don't know how to use it!"

"The power of the Keyblade comes naturally to their wielders," she said. "Try fighting the heartless, and you'll see that it'll come naturally."

I nodded, and prayed she was right. I took a stance, a rather awkward one too. I've never had to do this, so it was pretty obvious why I felt awkward.

I sighed deeply, I really hoped that this naturally thing was true. I looked over to Goofy and Donald, I placed a tight grip on my Keyblade and then ran towards the shadows. As I began to run I felt something take over my body, and then I started slashing and killing off shadows almost naturally. It was exactly like Aerith said, it all came naturally. Maybe it was the same for Sora?

I fought off some shadows, and in due time Donald, Goofy and I finished them off. The blade returned to it's necklace form, and Donald, Goofy and Aerith all looked at me. Again, I played dumb.

"What were those?" I asked Aerith, making my voice sound concerned.

"The heartless," she replied.

** Traverse Town Hotel**

**xx  
**

**Sora, Yuffie and Leon.**

"The heartless?" the boy, now known as Sora after introducing himself to Yuffie and Leon, said.

"The ones who attacked you, you remember?" replied Yuffie.

"Those without hearts. The darkness in people's hearts—that's what attracts them. And there is darkness within every heart," Leon said.

Yuffie looked over to Sora, "Hey, have you heard of someone named Ansem?"

** Traverse Town Square**

**xx  
**

**Marie, Goofy, Donald and Aerith.**

"Ansem?" I asked.

Okay, confession time. I've played the game, and I know basics. But whenever there were dialogs I always skipped them, and I always skipped the cut-scenes. So in a sense, I didn't actually _play_ the game. I just skipped through it and tried to finish it as fast as I could so I could tell my friend I beat it faster than she did.

I only know Ansem because hes the guy I had to kill. I don't know anything about him or why he's bad. I just know that he studied the heartless and that he's the last boss. The only characters I do know fairly well were the Disney characters, because they were in movies that I watched, like Donald and Goofy.

I only really sorta know Aerith, Yuffie, Leon and Cid, since they appeared in the first level, and it was the only level that I didn't skip the dialog. But I skipped after Sora left Traverse Town since they all talked forever and ever. I just really wanted to beat the game.**[1]**

"We've gotta find him quick!" Goofy yelled, which brought me back to from my thoughts.

"Wait! First, we need that 'key'!" yelled Donald. Goofy looked over to me.

"but we already got the 'key'!" Goofy yelled back.

"But the king said 'he'," stated Donald.

"Maybe he really made a mistake?" Goofy questioned. This made Donald furious.

"**I ALREADY SAID THE KING DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES!**" yelled Donald.

Aerith smiled, "let's go find Leon, he may know something about this."

Donald, having calmed down from his yelling, agreed. So did Goofy. And I also nodded.

**Traverse Town Hotel**

**xx  
**

**Sora, Yuffie and Leon.**

"So...this is the key?" asked Sora, pointing at the blade.

Yuffie nodded. And Leon also nodded, "The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade. That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what."

"Well, I didn't ask for this," the blade disappeared from his hands.

"The Keyblade chooses its master. And it chose you," Yuffie smiled at Sora.

"So tough luck," Leon said monotonously.

Sora began to wonder, "How did all this happen? I remember being in my room..."

Sora then gasped, "Wait a minute! What happened to my home? My island? Riku! Kairi!"

Leon rubbed his temples, "you know what? I really don't know."

Sora sighed out of frustration at the fact that no one could help him. He got up from his bed and looked around, he really wasn't at home anymore. This felt like one huge dream to him, and he would wake up soon and find himself in his room. But it wasn't a dream, it was real. What seemed like fantasy turned into reality. But what bothered him the most was Riku and Kairi disappearing.

"Sooner or later, the Heartless will find you. You'd best prepare yourself," Leon said, taking Sora out of his thoughts.

"Prepare yourself?" he asked.

"To fight for your life. Are you ready?" asked Leon. Sora wasn't ready, but he would soon learn to be.

"I'm ready!" he shouted.

Leon nodded and looked towards Yuffie, "Yuffie, let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors."

Yuffie had no time to reply as she called out to Leon and pointed at a heartless soldier. Leon readies himself with his gunblade.

"Yuffie, go!" he called out, signaling her to go and find Aerith and the others. She nodded and ran towards the door.

**Entrance to Traverse Town Hotel**

**xx  
**

**Marie, Aerith, Donald and Goofy.**

I walked with Aerith, Donald, and Goofy. If I knew anything well it was the first level of the game. Aerith would walk towards the door of the hotel, and then Yuffie would come barging out. The thing that made me think was however, should I tell Donald not to stand behind the door?

Well, I didn't really have time to warn him as the door slammed opened, flattening Donald against the wall. I noticed Yuffie running away.

"Yuffie?" Aerith called out. She began to follow her. I didn't know whether to stay or follow Aerith, but seeing as Aerith went by herself, I went after her. Just to make sure she doesn't get attacked.

As I followed Aerith, I realized something.

I should have stayed behind with Donald and Goofy, they were going to meet Sora soon enough.

I had a weird feeling. Seeing Aerith, Donald, Goofy and Yuffie made it clear to me that something weird was going on. I still had hope that this was all a dream, I've dreamed about Kingdom hearts a lot. But every time Sora would appear in them I always woke up. If I actually saw Sora and didn't wake up, would that mean that this is my new reality?

I really wanted to hope so.

* * *

**[1]** has this ever happened to you? Where you just skipped through a whole game just to prove you've beaten it faster than your friends? My friend did it once, and she said she wouldn't do it again because you can't talk about it with those that actually played the game. So I figured I'd do that with Marie, and make it less boring throughout the story.

Wow, so a lot has happened, and now you'll have to wait for the next chapter!


	3. Chapter Three: I'm Marie

**Chapter Three: I'm Marie**

After Yuffie ran off to find Aerith, Leon and Sora were left to fight off the heartless. They both managed to fight their way to the third district of Traverse Town, but Leon went and fought in another direction than Sora. He was left alone to fight off the heartless with his Keyblade.

Fighting came naturally to Sora, he play fought with Riku back home but this kind of fighting came naturally to him. The Keyblade was built differently than his wooden sword, but with the Keyblade his sword skills seemed almost flawless.

After fighting a group of shadows and soldiers, Sora began to get tired. As he prepared himself for more heartless he heard a noise. He looked up and was only able to see white, and then felt the white thing falling on him. It caused him to fall down as well.

"The key!" Donald shouted. Goofy looked confused.

"But what about the other?" he asked.

Donald didn't have time to answer, as soldiers came crawling from everywhere. Sora, Donald, and Goofy all prepared for battle.

** looking for shelter**

**xx  
**

**Marie, Aerith and Yuffie.**

"I don't believe it," said Yuffie. She looked at my Keyblade.

"Donald and Goofy said that the king referred the key as a 'he' though," stated Aerith.

"Does it really matter? They have **two** Keyblade wielders, that means double the power in finding their king!" Yuffie said.

"You do have a point there, Yuffie," Aerith made a thing pose. I didn't know what to say, I didn't even believe it myself.

"Well then, we have to tell Leon this," Yuffie proclaimed.

"Yes, but first," Aerith looked over to me. "We need to know what happened to your home."

I hesitated at first, but I guess it was okay to tell them what happened, "it all started when I tried playing a game."

** Third District**

**xx  
**

**Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Leon.**

"So, you were looking for me?" asked Sora.

After fighting off the soldiers, Sora and the rest got into more trouble as a Guard Armor came out of nowhere. Of course, Sora, Donald, and Goofy had no trouble defeating it.

"uh huh," stated Donald.

"What abou-"

"They, too, have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," Leon said.

"But there's ano-"

Donald looked at Sora, "Hey, why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel."

Sora frowned, "I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi..."

"Of course," Donald smiled at Sora.

Goofy looked at Donald with concern, "are you sure? What about the oth-"

"Who knows? But we need him to come with us to help us find the king," answered Donald.

"Sora, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends," Leon joined in.

Sora was still frowning, "Yeah...I guess."

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand? No frowning. No sad face. Okay?" Donald said while waving his finger in a disciplined manner.

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!" Goofy made a funny face, but then remembered what he wanted to say before, "oh yeah what abo-"

Donald pushed Goofy's face away from him, "This boat runs on happy faces."

"Happy?" Sora asked. He sighed, and lowered his head. He then brought it up and on it appeared the biggest smile he could ever do. Donald and Goofy looked at each other and then back at Sora. They burst out into laughter.

"That's one funny face!" Goofy said in between fits of laughter.

Sora shrugged, "okay, why not? I'll go with you guys."

"Donald Duck," said Donald.

"Goofy," he introduced himself after.

"I'm Sora," he smiled at the two.

After a good two seconds of silence Goofy decided to talk, "So, what about the other 'key'?

Donald gasped, "Oh yeah!" he started to think, "what was her name?"

Leon joined in, " there's another Keyblade wielder?"

"Uh huh," Goofy and Donald replied in unison.

** Dark Hideout**

**xx  
**

**Disney Villains**

In the hideout where the villains currently were, was a meeting on the Keyblade. Hades, Jafar, Captain Hook, Maleficent, Ursula, and Oogie boogie were all present.

"That little squirt took down that Heartless! Who'd have thought it?" Hades said in surprised.

"Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not his own," Jafar added in.

" Why don't we turn him into a Heartless? That'll settle things quick enough," Ursula joined.

Captain hook slammed his hook on the table, "And the brat's friends are the king's lackeys. Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them."

"You're no prize yourself," Oogie Boogie laughed.

"Shut up!" shouted Captain Hook.

"I don't like the looks of that girl though," Hades commented.

"Yes, the girl, she also wields a Keyblade," Jafar also commented, stroking his goatee.

"What a cutie!" Oogie Boogie joked, laughing again.

"Quiet you sack of crap!" yelled Ursula. "She's not even worth the time!"

"I'd be quite a pickle if she joined the lad and his lackeys," Captain hook looked mildly concerned.

"Enough," Maleficent spoke. "The Keyblade has chosen him. Will it be he who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him? Either way, he could be quite useful..."

She then spoke again, "as for the girl, it seems she finally awoke from that dream she calls reality." Maleficent gave a cold and evil smile, "she will be a challenge, but she will be the most useful."

** Traverse Town**

**xx  
**

**Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Marie.**

"I see Leon and Sora!" Yuffie happily shouted.

Aerith looked out at the window, "Donald and Goofy are also with them."

I was sitting on a bed and was beyond nervous, this was it. My own personal proof that this wasn't a dream. The moment that Sora steps in, is what will tell me if I'm dreaming or not. Please Sora, disappear when you enter that door. Please? Oh what the hell, he can't read my thoughts.

I pinched myself, that's what I've been doing since I first came here. I felt the pain, even though I didn't want to.

"Yuffie, Aerith, where's the second Keyblade wielder?" I heard Leon's voice, and looked up. I saw Aerith and Yuffie point at me, and then I saw Leon look at me.

"So you're another wielder," he stated. I felt myself breathing faster, crap. If I have another anxiety attack, I'm gonna yell.

"Gawrsh, does this mean she's coming too?" I heard Goofy say from afar, he was probably at the door.

"We can't force her Goofy," I heard Donald's voice after wards.

"But if she has a Keyblade, doesn't that mean she's like me?" my eyes went wide, and my mouth flung open. I heard Sora's voice, but I didn't see him. If I can hear his voice, then that probably means that he's visible. Which means I'm not dreaming.

"Are you alright?" I heard Aerith ask me. I slowly looked up, starting from her shoes, and then to her dress, and then finally to her face. Except, I wasn't looking at Aerith. I was looking at Sora. His small body near the door, looking at me. He had a little frown in him, and I realized that I had one too. He got rid of the frown and did a huge smile, I recognized that smile, it was the exact one he did when he first met Donald and Goofy.

I raised my brow, and he still kept doing it. Soon enough I started to laugh out loud, and everyone looked at me, raising their eyebrows.

"I'm fine," I finally answered Aerith's question.

"So, what do we do?" asked Yuffie.

"That all depends on...?" Leon trailed off, I forgot to name myself. Stupid me.

"I'm Marie," I said. I got up from the bed and stood straight. "I'm assuming you're looking for your King?" I played dumb again.

"Yep!" exclaimed Goofy. "We needed the 'key' before finding him though."

"But we found two of 'em!" shouted Donald.

Leon spoke, "I think all four of you should go together and find the King. Sora will be able to find his friends, and Marie will be able to find whatever she's looking for."

I realized something, my home wasn't turned into darkness like Sora's. Everyone was just frozen, so how can I be able to find something that hasn't exactly disappeared? I was the one who disappeared. I was going to say that until Aerith spoke for me.

"Leon, Marie's home wasn't consumed by the darkness," she said. Leon looked over at Aerith. And then he looked over at me. I decided to finish off what Aerith said.

"Yeah, there were no Heartless or darkness. Everyone I knew just stood still, as if time itself was frozen," I said. " I was the one who disappeared, so really, I'm trying to find my way back home."

Leon thought for a moment, how odd was it that my home didn't get eaten by darkness?

"I see, you should still go with Donald, Goofy and Sora. You won't find your home just by staying here," he said. And it was true, it was time for me to take initiative. I walked over to Donald, Goofy and Sora. I stared at them for a moment. My partners. My friends. My allies. The people I would travel with. My life. I was ready for this.

"Would you guys mind if I came along?" I asked.

"If we have two Keyblade Wielders it would help find the King faster!" Donald happily said. "Sure you can come!"

"We'd be happy if you came along! The more the merrier!" Goofy laughed.

Sora smiled at me, I hadn't realized before but his eyes were really pretty. They were more detailed then they were in the game, but that's video games. Graphics limit the fine details.

I'm Sora," I heard him speak.

"Donald Duck!" shouted Donald after.

"Name's Goofy!" came in Goofy.

"And I'm Marie!" I smiled at them.

Goofy placed a hand in the middle, and then Donald placed his on top and then finally Sora placed his on top of the two. I placed mine on top of his, and for the first time in my life I felt Sora's hand. I was touching, and I felt it too. I definitely wasn't dreaming.

"All for one, one for all!" Goofy shouted in happiness. We all smiled at each other, and finally I felt like I belonged somewhere in this world.

"Make sure you're prepared for the journey ahead of you. We don't know how far the Heartless have spread," Leon stated.

"Good luck!" Yuffie called out, smiling at us.

"I hope you find your friends, and your home," Aerith waved at us.

"Look out for each other. Keep your spirits up," Leon added.

We all nodded, and said our farewells, the start of my journey was ahead. At first I was really scared, but optimism got the best of me. I, Marie Hill, was about to travel with Sora, all my friends and even people online the internet all called him cute and awesome. How many of them can say, "Yeah, I traveled with Sora?" they would call me crazy, but it's the truth.

We all walked out of the house and into an isolated area with a gate in front of us. Donald stopped and spoke, "The gummi ship is outside that gate."

"The what?" Sora questioned.

Ahh, the gummi ship. The most fun and yet annoying ship I've ever come across. I hated passing through those gate things to reach to the next world.

"That's our ship," Donald said.

"Wait 'til you see it!" Goofy proudly announced.

As I begin to walk out the gate, Donald speaks, "Hold on. Sora, Marie, this is for you."

I was handed a little glass orb with a fire sign on it, I grabbed it and it disappeared in my hands. I felt hot and then I felt a surge of fire flowing through me, it didn't hurt or anything, but it definitely felt weird.

"Now you can use magic, too," Donald said. Cool, I can use magic. Donald looked at Goofy, "Goofy, give them that other thing."

"What?"

"You know!"

"Oh, yeah."

Goofy handed me and Sora another glass orb, it was purple. It had a key emblem on it. I grabbed it and again it disappeared in my hands, I didn't feel any powers. Instead I got a mental image of myself dodge rolling. Ah, so these were ability orbs. Cool.

"Abilities allow you to do all sorts of things. Guess we should look for 'em along the way, huh?" Goofy smiled at us. So I was right. They were ability orbs.

Sora smiled at Goofy and Donald, "Okay, is that it? Let's get going!"

Donald, Goofy and I nodded. Our journey was officially starting. We walked out of Traverse Town and there was the gummi ship. It was waaaaaay bigger than what I saw on TV, it looked so awesome. And I just couldn't wait to get on it.

As we got on, we headed to the control room. There were four seats, two on the right and two on the left. Sora eagerly wanted to ride the ship, so Donald and Goofy tell him how to drive and control the steering wheel. He also taught him how to control the firearm and how to aim and shoot. I merely sat down as Sora pressed random buttons, making the ship move out of control. He pressed a '**DO NOT TOUCH**' button which made the ship shake uncontrollably. Dear god, I just got on the ship and already I feel like I'm in danger.

Soon enough however, the ship reverted back to normal. We were flying through space smoothly, and I was enjoying the sight from a nearby window. I began to hear Leon's voice in my head.

'_Look out for each other. Keep your spirits up._'

Yeah, I will look out for Sora, Donald and Goofy. I won't let them get hurt, they're my partners after all. And I will keep my spirits up. No matter what, I'll find my home. If I have to go through thousands of heartless so be it. No matter what hardship comes my way, I'll tear it down. I promise you that. Mom, dad, Dustin and Stella.

I'll come home and we'll all be a happy family again.

I promise.

* * *

well, this was shorter than the previous chapter. I hope you liked it!


	4. Chapter Four: Sleep time is beauty time

**Chapter Four: Sleep time is beauty time.**

"Hey, we're near the next world," Sora addressed. I looked over at the screen, it had a visual of the world. It looked like wonderland, the world where Alice in wonderland takes place. Ugh, I hate that world, I really do. The queen of hearts? I think that's her name, is really annoying.

But other than that, this would be simple, we would just go in, save Alice and defeat the bad guys. No problem.

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" shouted Donald. I looked at them, and nodded.

"We can't land this ship though," announced Goofy. "It'll only let us teleport there."

"Well, we gotta do what we gotta do, right?" I asked.

"Yeah that's right," said Donald. "Let's go already!"

being as impatient as ever, Donald pressed the teleport button. I saw our bodies glow and then I saw Donald disappear first, then Goofy and I was next. It felt really weird to be teleported. My body felt light, kinda like bubbles. It felt really weird. I also felt really tired..really sleepy actually.

My body felt heavy all of a sudden, and then I felt myself slipping into sleep mode.

**Wonderland  
-x-  
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Marie.**

Wonderland was a world full of cards, rabbits, teas and many oddities. Many things seemed opposite and others just plain weird. Yes, wonderland was indeed a land full of wonders.

And among the world stood out four outsiders. Sora, Marie, Donald and Goofy floated from the sky sleeping ever so soundly. Sora was floating on his back, snoring oh so lightly. Donald floated on his white tummy, laying his head on his arms and cooing in his sleep. Marie was above the rest, she also floated on her back with her left hand on her stomach.

Goofy was the first to land, but it was not a graceful landing oh no. he fell rather hard to the ground, and it instantly woke him up. Donald landed right on top of him also waking him up. Sora was the last to land on both Donald and Goofy, and his landing was the hardest, making him wake up in surprise.

Marie landed on the ground softly, and was still sleeping. As Sora, Donald and Goofy got up they saw her sleeping soundly. Donald grew angry that she landed without falling, and Goofy stared at how peacefully she was sleeping.

Sora merely laughed and smiled at Marie. She looked so peaceful, and very sweet sleeping on the floor. Looking at Marie however, reminded Sora of Kairi. Not because they were similar, but because they were both girls. Sora hoped he would find his friends.

**Wonderland  
-x-  
Marie.**

I felt something tug at my arm, and when I woke up I saw Donald, Goofy and Sora smiling at me.

"Was I...sleeping?" I asked.

"We all came floating down sleeping, you were the only one who didn't fall like the rest of us," Sora laughed. That laugh of his was really funny, and not in a bad way. It made me smile, his laugh always made me smile actually.

"Let's look arou-," Donald was interrupted when a white rabbit wearing a yellow blouse with blue pants, he had a black tie on as well. He also wore a red blazer and had a black umbrella in one hand and a huge clock in the other. He also wore glasses. It was the white rabbit from the movie.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers! I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! The queen, she'll have my head for sure!" he vented. The white rabbit ran off into a room, and all four of us looked at each other with confused looks.

"Let's go after him!" I shouted. And I started following the rabbit, Sora, Donald, and Goofy followed along as well. We ran to the room that the white rabbit went into, and all of a sudden everything looked so small. I looked at the doorknob, it was really small.

Sora also looked at the doorknob as he spoke, "How did he get so small?"

The doorknob was sleeping, I'm guessing, because when he opened his eyes he looked angry, "No, you're simply too big," he said.

Sora gasped, as well as Donald and Goofy. I gasped too, just so I didn't seem suspicious. I didn't even know how I was going to do this, I don't know if I should tell them they're all made up characters of a video game that I played. I would have to think of it along the way.

"It talks!" I heard Donald shout in surprise.

I don't think the doorknob liked that Donald shouted, as he had groaned in desperation and anger. He glared at Donald as he talked, "Must you be so loud? You woke me up."

"Good morning," Goofy kindly said. Oh Goofy, and his kind ways.

"Good night! I need a bit more sleep," the doorknob said. He was so grumpy.

"Wait, what do we have to do to grow small?" asked Sora.

"Why don't you try the bottle...over there?" the doorknob said. Sora looked behind him, and a table revealed itself. Oh, so that's how it came to be, I really shouldn't have skipped the scenes.

Sora walked over to the table, but he tripped on something and the bed that was beside the doorknob moved.

"Hey, look! A secret door!" I exclaimed. Sora looked at the door, but it was really small, so he couldn't fit through it.

"Guess we have to drink the bottle to go through it," he said. I nodded and we walked over to the table. Sora picked up the blue bottle and began to drink it. All of a sudden a white smoke appeared, and I saw the room getting bigger and bigger.

We were all standing on top of the table, and the bottle that Sora held was now bigger than us! I'm not scared of heights, but it was a really _long_ way down to the Queen's castle. A really looooooooooooong way down.

Sora looked down at the floor, and he readied himself to jump. In the game I would just jump off, but that's a game, this is real. Wait, I'm in a game though, so maybe it wouldn't hurt? I don't know? Ugh, this is confusing.

"Marie! Jump down!" I looked around and saw that Sora, Donald and Goofy were already down on the floor. I sighed, I looked at my watch. I noticed it was a day after my birthday, I was hoping my birthday would be something more...pleasant than jumping off tables and fighting heartless. But I guess beggars can't be choosers.

I readied myself, there was a lot of jumping in this game. So I had to get used to it, it wasn't an option either, I _needed_ to get used to it. I step back a few steps, and then I took a deep breath before jumping, well here goes nothing...

I ran and jumped off the table and it mentally felt like hours before I reached the floor, but I wasn't. I landed not so smoothly on the floor either, I started to stumble and tried catching my balance. Sora held onto my shoulders to help me find my balance. Once I did, I noticed he was touching me. Oooh, awkward. I quickly walked it off, and then I turned to him.

"Thanks, I'm not used to jumping of high places," I said. Sora smiled at me and laughed.

"You'll get used to it. I did," he said. Of course, you're Sora, the world's little hero. Go you. Note my sarcasm there.

Well anyways I smiled at him. Besides the fact that he was unrealistically perfect, he was genuinely a nice kid. Well from what I can tell.

As we began to walk a swarm of heartless surrounded us, I panicked a little. I wasn't used to the fact that these nasty things pop up from nowhere, so it caught me off guard. That's something I had to get used to as well.

"Heartless!" cried Donald. Sora got in his usual position and I did too, my awkward position... I'll work on that _as well_.

We split up into two teams. It was and Sora and I who handled the left side, and Donald and Goofy who handled the right. Sora fought effortlessly, successfully using the dodge roll ability. I had some trouble using the ability, so I decided not to use it. I attacked a shadow, and then I ran and slashed another. Red and green nocturnes started to appear, and I slashed the red one while Sora took care of the green one.

Two Blue Rhapsody started to appear, I used my fire magic on one and then I attacked the other. Before I had the chance to attack any other heartless, Sora had already taken care of most. And the rest ran away. Donald and Goofy were about done at the same time we were.

We all regrouped and went through the hole that lead to the Queen's Castle. As we walked through the hole we saw the White Rabbit run, and we followed him. He ran to his position next to the Queen, and he blew his trumpet.

We saw Alice standing next to a podium on trial. With a few puffs of air the Rabbit finally speaks, "Court is now in session!" he shouted. We saw Alice gasped and then she shouted in confusion, "I'm on trial? But why?"

the White Rabbit breathed deeply, "her Majesty, the Queen of hearts, presiding!"

we looked over to the woman at the center, ugh, how I hate her. She wore that stupid black and red dress, and her face all stretched with that frown of hers.

"This girl is the culprit. There's no doubt about it," she calmly said. "And the reason is.."

Snobby mean Queen.

"Because I say so, that's why!" she shouted.

Correction; snobby, mean, childish Queen.

"This is so unfair!" shouted Alice in protest. I agree, it was unfair! Where's a lawyer when you need one!

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" she asked.

"Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" Alice retorted.

The white Rabbit spoke after wards, "you may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so...so mean!"

Exactly my thought.

"**SILENCE!**"

I saw that Alice's hair flew back at the loud and manly voice of that so-called queen. Yikes.

"You dare defy me?" she questioned.

Sora, Donald, Goofy and I watched as the queen grew red with anger. Sora just stood there as he spoke, "hey, guys, we should help her out."

Donald looked at Sora, "yeah, but the-"

"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that me muddling?" Goofy asked. I face palmed.

"Meddling!"

"Oh yeah. And that's against the rules," Goofy stated.

I looked over at Sora, he was so concentrated at Alice and the Queen. Either way, Sora would help her out. He's just that kind of guy. I was about to ask him if we should help Alice but I heard the Queen speak.

"The court finds the defendant," she said. "Guilty as charged!"

Alice gasped, but the queen continued, "for the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart..."

Sora grew angry. Uh-oh, here we go. Hero time for Sora.

"Off with her head!"

What! I don't remember this in the game...oh right, I skipped the scene. But still! She can't do that! I like Alice!

"No! No! Oh, please!" pleaded Alice. Who looked beyond distraught.

"Hold it right there!" I heard Sora say beside me. He ran towards the Queen and Alice, Donald, Goofy and I looked at each other and began to follow him.

"Who are you?" the queen asked. "How dare you interfere with my court?"

Sora looked a little nervous before answering, so I took initiative.

"We know who the _real_ culprit is!" I announced. Sora looked over at me, and I mouth a sorry. But he just smiled.

"Uh-huh. It's the heartle-"Goofy stopped himself from talking any further.

Sora looked at Goofy, and then at the Queen, "anyway, she's not the one you're looking for."

The Queen's frown grew, "that's nonsense. Have you any proof?"

Sora didn't come up with an answer, we didn't have proof. I tried thinking of a way to make it sound like we did, but my slow and not so logical brain came up with nothing. The next thing I saw was Alice being locked up. No! Alice!

"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence!" said the queen. "Fail, and it's off with all of your heads!"

"Gather as much or little evidence as you please," she continued. "Report back here once you're ready."

For some reason, I grew really angry. I walked out of the court and went into a another area. I didn't bother waiting for Sora, Donald or Goofy. I just grew really angry. When I went into the next area I remembered where I went. Lotus forest. Great. More fighting. Awesome.

I stopped walking as I heard footsteps. I looked behind me, but I didn't see anyone. I looked around but I couldn't see anyone either. I heard the footsteps again, where were they coming from? I decided to ignore it for now, and I continued walking. I was, however, stopped.

"My dear, you've finally awoken," I heard a voice all too familiar.

Maleficent. That evil witch.

"What do you want!" I shouted. I was angry, and this was just adding fuel to the fire.

"My, my. Why so feisty? I'm only concerned about your well-being. You were asleep for a long time after all," she said. I raised my brow at her. I was only asleep for a day. Geez, it's not gonna kill me.

"I've bought you a birthday present as well, my dear," she said. Uh-oh, didn't she do the same thing with Aurora?

"I don't want it," I was almost certain I was going to fight _something_. And I prepared myself for it.

"Now, now. Don't be so modest, you deserve a birthday gift like everyone else," she said. I was getting really angry that she didn't take the hint to take a hike. So I decided to take things into my own hands.

"If you don't leave me alone, I'll have no choice but to beat you up," I calmly said.

Maleficent sighed. "Just enjoy your present."

I felt a cold and then I felt the power of ice. Was she giving me the power of Ice? The feeling went away, but then I felt a shock and I felt like my fingers were being shocked or something. I was confused. And I was going to ask her what she was doing but then I felt like my fatigue went away, and that I was ready to fight some more.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"My dear, I'm only concerned about your well-being. You will need help and protection, so I gave you the power of healing, ice and thunder," she gave me a cold and evil smile. If I could get rid of these powers I would. But I don't know how to.

"That boy can't help you. He'll make things worse," maleficent confessed. "come with me, I'll help you find your home and reunite you with your family."

I thought for a moment. I can't trust her, she's evil. But it was a bit tempting, I wanted to see my family, I wanted to just hug them. Tell them I missed them, tell them I love them. I just wanted to wake up, but this wasn't a dream. It was real.

I heard footsteps approaching, and Maleficent disappeared. I looked behind me, and I saw Sora, along with Donald and Goofy.

"Marie! Are you okay? You just ran off!" Sora was out of breath, and his voice was full of concern. I only stared at him. What did Maleficent mean by saying Sora would make things worse?

"Marie?"

I really wanted this to be just a dream. My mind felt like it was blowing up, so many things to worry about. I want it to stop.

"Hellooooo, Earth to Marie!"

Earth, I remember that place. It's my home. My home? Is it really? I was asleep for a long time, that's what Maleficent said. What did she mean by that though?

"**MARIE**!"

I snapped out of my trance like thoughts, I looked at Sora. His face was filled with even more concern. I looked at Donald and Goofy, they also looked concerned.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I apologized. "I was just thinking of some things."

Sora gave a sympathetic look, I looked at him. I could tell that all he wanted to do was to find Riku and Kairi.

"I know," he said. "I think about things all the time. But we keep walking with smiles on our faces, so you should too!"

Donald and Goofy both nodded. I chuckled, Sora had a weird way of cheering someone up. I smiled at them, "I'll try."

I tried to forget about what I was thinking. I managed to not focus on them, but It would always stay in the back of my mind. Sora nudged my shoulder, and smiled. It was his signal for us to continue, I nodded and followed Sora.

However, we stopped as we saw a familiar face.

Or rather, a similar _head_.

the head of the Cheshire Cat appeared, and he started t float around. He came to a stop, and then his body appeared. He started to balance his head on his knee.

"Who are you?" asked Donald.

"Who, indeed?" he asked in response. "Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"

Sora looked at the cat. "Hey if you know who the culprit is, tell us!"

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers—but doesn't always tell," the cat said. Did I tell you that the cat annoyed me? No? Well now you do.

"The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness," he continued.

He began to disappear, and Sora ran up a little to stop him. "Wait!"

"They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit," he spoke. He was referring to the heartless, I think. No I'm sure of it. I skipped the cut scenes, but it was common sense what they were talking about.

"there are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find," he said. Ah, right the evidence! I nearly forgot about them. He spoke again. "The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all."

"Should we trust him?" Donald asked. I was about to say something, but then the cat re-appeared as he spoke, "to trust, or not to trust? I trust you'll decide!"

geez, that cat is mad weird. Too many riddles in this place actually, it kinda hurt my brain. When the cat finally disappeared for _good_ Sora began to look around and spotted a flower, he went up to it and it spoke.

"Give me an ether."

Ugh, no. not this, if I recall, we had to go through a lot of upside down rooms and whatnot in order to find the clues. I _really_ hated this world.

**Traverse Town  
-x-  
Aerith, Cid, Yuffie and Leon.**

Aerith had thought long and hard. But she couldn't think of anything. She didn't really have much to think about with just the basics, she looked over to Yuffie.

"Do you have any ideas?" she asked. Yuffie looked over to hear, and she looked like her brain was about to melt.

"No, I don't understand how her world wasn't consumed by the darkness," she commented.

They were talking about Marie's situation.

Leon was leaning against a wall, a finger panted in his chin. He was also thinking about Marie as well. "M y guess is, she probably passed out before the heartless consumed everything."

It was possible. Maybe Marie didn't see the darkness consume her world, she could have passed out before it happened. It certainly wasn't out of the question.

"Well this 'Marie' character was chosen as a Keyblade wielder, no?" Cid asked, chewing on a toothpick. "Maybe that had something to do with her world."

"If that were so then it would have happened to Sora as well," replied Leon.

"It's bugging me a little," admitted Yuffie.

"It's certainly unnerving. if the darkness didn't consume her world, then what happened?" Aerith asked.

Yuffie suddenly jumped up, and looked as if she thought of something. "She did say it all started when she was playing a video game!"

Aerith also thought about it. It did start with the video game, Marie said so herself.

**-x-**

_"I started to play the game, and then the lights flickered. When they completely turned off I went outside and noticed that everyone in my house stood still," Marie said. "I had an anxiety attack, and then I passed out. I woke up here after."_

_"How odd," added Aerith._

_"Yeah, that's totally bizarre," joined Yuffie._

_"I just want to find my way back home, I'm already scared, I just want to see my family," Marie said._

_Yuffie and Aerith gave Marie a sympathetic look. They understood what she was going through, as they too lost their home and families._

**-x-**

"Maybe it was the game she was playing," said Cid. "Games are no good, they suck the smart out of you and you're nothing but a mindless puppet."

"I'm curious and worried. I think we should try to find out more about it," announced Leon.

Aerith and Yuffie nodded, while Cid rubbed his nose. Who knows what they would find.

* * *

Well well, glad this chapter is done. Now I ca focus on the other!

It's time I told you guys something,

I've decided to openly answer questions or anything you guys ask in reviews. I'm also going to thank anyone who favourites this story.[I hope you don't favourite for the fact that you'll be mentioned...=(] and those who put this story on their alert list.

I decided to do this because I write these stories so that others may enjoy it as much as I do. You guys are awesome, and I think people should know! So on with the show.

I'd like to thank:  
**Alexandria Volturi  
antaurilover685  
KCeee  
ShimmerMist**

for placing this story in your favourites. You guys are awesome-beans!

I'd also like to thank:  
**KCeee  
GreyPurpleBlack **

for placing this story in your alert list! You guys are also awesome-beans!

Now for the questions:

**ShimmerMist:**  
Thank you for you honesty about the beginning being mary-sue, I really appreciate it. And as for the Ansem battle, I personally beat him at level 50. I did make it to level 99 just for the sole reason of beating Sephiroth which is really easy, but takes too much time. That whole not beating him was for the story, nothing in this story is whatsoever related to me. The only thing that IS related to me, is the Canadian stuff. Because... I. AM. CANADIAN. *plays Oh Canada*

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Thank you very much for the compliment! I shall update frequently.

**GreyPurpleBlack:**  
Thank you very much for your compliment about not having any grammatical errors[I try my best so I don't have any!]

I shall infuriate you some more.[or at least I think] this just the BEGINNING of Marie's adventure. I have plans for her, and they all surround the KH series. I don't intend to make many chapters on this story. The chapters that I do write about will be fairly long. But I'm pretty sure this story will not go past chapter 30. i would say this is kind of a pre-story for Marie. So you'll have to wait and see!


	5. Chapter Five: Presents! Presents!

**Chapter Five:Presents! Presents! Presents!**

After finding all the clues to prove Alice's innocence, I sighed of relief. It took us a while, a really long while. But we finally got it.

"Well, look what you've found. Nice going," I turned around and saw that the Cheshire cat has returned.

"Now we can save Alice!" exclaimed Sora. He was really happy as he literally began jumping around, I started to laugh as I kept staring at him. He looked over to me and ran up to me. What he did kinda surprised me.

He started hugging me and twirling me around. So _not_ awkward.

"We can save Alice! We can save her!" I felt completely awkward, he was basically dragging me around like a rag doll. And he had a kung-fu grip on me! I could barely breathe! All I could really do was smile awkwardly. I don't think he saw that I felt uncomfortable or anything, as he just kept doing it.

So I had to break free from his death hug.

"Sora, I can't breathe," I said, trying to breathe.

He stop moving, and I could feel him staring at me. I slowly looked over at him, and our eyes met for a moment. I noticed he started to blush, and he quickly let go.

"Uh, sorry," he scratched the back of his head out of embarrassment.

I took a deep breath, and tried to suck in the air that Sora had squeezed out of me. My breathing was returning back to normal and I looked at Sora.

"That's okay, I just lost a few moments of my life with that death hug of yours. No biggie," I joked. Sora started laughing nervously, and smiled. I smiled back.

"Don't be so sure! She may be innocent, but what about you?" we stopped smiling as we stared at the cat. Sora looked at him suspiciously. "What do you mean?" he asked.

The cat placed a finger on his lips, "I won't tell. But I'll give you something," the cat gave Sora a blue glass orb, it had a snowflake on it.

"Cool, the power of ice," Sora went to cast the spell. His blade appeared and ice came out of it.

I placed my hand on my chest. I couldn't help but think of what Maleficent said before.

'_That boy can't help you. He'll make things worse._'

This really bothered me. Maleficent is evil, but somehow...those words seemed genuine. Like she _did_ care. That bothered me so much. Should I be worried? Or is it all in my head? What could Sora possibly do to make things worse?

"Marie, let's go save Alice!" I heard Sora call out for me. I looked over and I saw him waving with Donald fighting with Goofy in the back. He wouldn't do anything to hurt me? Right?

I hope so.

I ran to Sora, and we started to walk out of the Lotus forest and to the court room. I frowned, I knew where this was going. And I wasn't looking forward to it. Poor Alice..

We went up to the card dude that was standing near the Queen. He looked down at us, and the proceeded to ask. "Are you ready to present evidence to the Queen?" he asked.

"Yeah, we are," replied Sora. He looked at us as he spoke, "very well. Counsel, step up to the podium."

Donald and Goofy opted to stand on the side. Sora looked over at me, "Let's go."

"Wait? Shouldn't you be just the one going up there?" I asked, last time I checked he was the only one standing on that podium.

"Yeah, but there's no room over there," he pointed at where Goofy and Donald were. He was right, there was no room. And I didn't feel like squeezing my way in there either.

"Okay," I said. "I'll help you with the case then."

I watched a lot of those courtroom TV shows, so hopefully that's of some use. Sora and I walked up to the podium, he stood on the right and I stood on the left. He stood there proudly, while I felt really weird. I've never been in a court room, and I was experiencing it In a game!

"Now, show me what you have found," demanded the Queen.

Sora gave the Card man the five boxes with the evidence in them. The Queen looked at him , "Cards! Bring forth my evidence!" she shouted.

He gave the box to the Queen, she looked at all of them. "Hmm, checking all five would only be a waste of time," she said. Well, if you weren't such a snobby or spoiled-like person you would know that in a courtroom you have to check out **ALL** of the evidence. Geez, doesn't anyone here watch Judge Judy? Oh, right. They don't know. Video game and all.

She then looked at us, "all right, then. Choose the one you wish to present."

"I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence," she shifted in her seat.

Sora grew angry, and annoyed, "What? After all the trouble of collecting it?"

You tell 'er Sora!

She scoffed, "you dare object? Then you will lose your head." geez what's up with her and offing people's heads? She spoke again, "now, choose! One box!"

the cards placed the boxes in a line, and Sora quickly ran to the second box on the left side. I'm guessing he knows that's where the most effective evidence is. He opened the box, and out came a Heartless, but it quickly disappeared.

"What in the world was that?" asked the Queen, confused beyond all hell.

I decided to answer, "That was your evidence, so let Alice go."

she hesitated a bit. "Rrrrrrrgh."

she quickly hit a mood swing as she shouted from the top of her lung, "**SILENCE!** I'm the law here!"

Now I know how Alice felt when she was standing on the podium. I felt the air of that 'silence' hit me, some people don't know how powerful their voices can be. Geez.

She looked at me, "article 29: Anyone who defies the queen is guilty!"

my mouth flung open. You crazy woman!

Donald interfered, "That's crazy!"

She looked at Donald and Goofy, and then at Sora and I. "Seize them at once!" she yelled.

A card ran to a tower and pulled the lever to the cage that they placed Alice in, it rose to the Queen's level, and then she raised her heart staff and ordered the cards to get us.

"Cards! If they touch the tower, you lose your heads!" she shouted. I seriously lost my temper.

"If you don't shut up I'm gonna make you lose YOUR head!" I shouted at her. She looked appalled as she gasped. I started running towards her but Sora grabbed my arm. "Don't let it bother you, try to lower the cage that Alice is in! We'll distract the cards!" he gave me a serious look, and I nervously nodded.

Sora, Donald and Goofy started to fight off the cards, and I ran to the tower. I started to tug at the lever, but it wouldn't go down. I groaned in frustration, so I did the only thing I had left.

Hit that lever like crazy!

So I did, I got out my Keyblade and started attacking that thing like there was no tomorrow. Of course my attacks aren't as strong as Sora's, so it took me a while. I looked over at the others and they were having a bit of trouble as the cards were pretty quick and really thin. Well duh, they're cards.

"Hang on guys! Just a little longer!" I shouted. I saw Sora look at me and he nodded. This thing wasn't budging and it was driving me nuts. What started as just mindless pounding soon turned into hard, rough and crazy attacks on the lever. With a few more of those attacks I finally got the lever down.

I called out to Sora, and he turned to the cage. It fell off the hook, and it fell to the floor. I walked up a bit, to get a closer view, this was where Alice disappeared, I'm sure of it. The Queen also gasped, and looked down to see the cage.

Sora ran up to the cage, hoping that Alice was alright. But as the curtain turned Alice was no longer there. We were too late.

"She must've gotten kidnapped while we were fighting," Donald said. Oh she was kidnapped alright.

"You fools!" shouted the Queen. Great, what do you want now?

"Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!" she announced. Was she trying to help us? I doubt it. I bet she just wants to be the one to put Alice in jail.

I sighed. Sora looked at Donald, Goofy and I. "Let's look around," he said. So we left for the Lotus forest.

When we entered though, we saw the Cheshire cat appear. He was balancing on his head.

"Have you seen Alice?" asked Sora.

"Alice? no. Shadows? Yes!" she replied.

"Where did they go?" Asked Goofy.

"this way? That way? Does it matter?" the cat said. ""Left, right, up, down! All mixed up thanks to the shadows!"

"Step deeper into the forest to the deserted garden," he continued. "You might find shadows in the upside-down room!"

The cat disappeared. And we were left with just riddles. I hate riddles, I really do. We made our way deeper into the forest and after fighting off a few shadows we reached the place.

When we entered there was a house and a table with tea cups on it. We went to a wall with a saying on it. 'A very merry unbirthday.'

I looked at it, yeah. I very merry belated unbirthday indeed. The words changed, and it read. 'sit down to get your present.'

We all decided to do what it said. So Donald and Goofy took a seat on the opposite side to Sora and I. All of a sudden a green little crystal thing hit our heads and sent us flying backwards off our seats. I groaned, was this world mocking me that my birthday was a crappy one!

Sora was the first to get up, and I got up after. Donald and Goofy got up from the other side as well. Sora reached out to the treasure chest, and opened it. It was an elixir.

"Hey there's a letter here," Sora said. He picked up the letter and started to read aloud. "Happy belated birthday Marie! Sorry I didn't get the chance to say it yesterday, but I did say it the day before, so you can't get mad! Signed Dustin."

my eyes went wide. A letter from Dustin, I took the paper from Sora's hands and read it myself. It was indeed his handwriting, I started to frown. Where are you Dustin?

"Who's Dustin?" asked Sora. I looked up at him.

"My brother. But I don't understand, how did his letter get all the way here?" I asked. Although I didn't expect anyone to answer. I was wrong though.

"Gawrsh, maybe your brother's tryin' to find you," said Goofy. Well, it certainly wasn't out of the question. Maybe Dustin made it here to Kingdom hearts as well, I started to smile. A new hope for me was rising, maybe Dustin is here too?

"It was your birthday yesterday?" Sora asked. I looked at him, unaware that I was still smiling. I was feeling really happy all of a sudden.

"Yeah it was, I turned fourteen," I said. Sora had a frown on his face and I raised my brow to him. Why was he sad? It's not like it was _his_ birthday yesterday.

"Happy belated birthday!" I heard Donald say. Goofy also wished me a happy belated birthday as well. Sora was still frowning, but he smiled after wards. "Happy belated birthday!" he said. The smile I had previously grew bigger. Donald, Sora, and Goofy wishing me happy birthday, well belated birthday, made me smile. This was really incredible.

"Thank you guys," and I meant it. I guess my birthday wasn't so bad after all, well, the day after my birthday. But I can make it count, right?

Sora smiled and the turned to the chairs, and a note appeared. 'Sit down to get your present.' so we all sat down again, and waited for a present. Except the same thing happened, a silver box appeared and our chairs were thrown back. Bubbles flew out from the box.

And once again, another note appeared for us to sit down. I decided not to, because I didn't want to fall. So I stood by the side as I watched Sora, Donald and Goofy sit down again.

And of course, the same thing happened. Except this time instead of something nice, Heartless appeared. So I took out my Keyblade. We took down the Heartless easily, they were just a bunch of nocturnes and shadows after all.

We entered the house after that, and we found ourselves in the bizarre room again.

"They're hiding somewhere. And the momeraths outgrabe," we heard the voice of the Cheshire cat. "Want to find the shadows? Try turning on the light."

We saw two candles on two tables. Sora looked at me, and I nodded taking it as a sign for us to light the candles. Sora got on one table and I got on the other. We both lit the candles. The Cheshire cat spoke again.

"I'd worry about the doorknob if I were you," he disappeared again. I began to worry, the doorknob was in trouble? I can't remember if he was or not.

"Let's go," Sora started to run to the Queen's castle. And we followed. From there we entered the Bizarre room. We noticed the doorknob wasn't in trouble, but we saw the Cheshire cat on the table with the two bottles. So we went there.

"The shadows should be here soon," the Cheshire cat started to prance around. "Are you prepared for the worst? If not, too bad!"

He pointed to the ceiling, and we looked up. We saw a monster up at the ceiling, and it quickly fell down. I don't remember there being a monster to fight here in this world. In any case, I prepared myself. Donald cast a spell on the monster, and we soon found out the name of the monster.

It was called the Trickmaster. That name seemed so familiar. But I couldn't remember where.

Sora attacked it first. But it was useless as he couldn't land an attack on it's leg. It looked like it was only able to take blows from it's upper body. I was still getting used to jumping, so I didn't jump to attack it's chest. So Donald and I attacked with spells while Goofy and Sora did all the physical hitting.

I stood on the table, and Donald was at the floor. He was casting from there. Sora and Goofy were doing a good job at attacking it, but the Trickmaster had a trick up it's sleeve. He cast a spell and lightning started to bolt down, it missed Donald and Goofy, and I wasn't affected by it because I was on the table. Sora didn't get hurt from it, so I lent him a hand.

"Cure!" I shouted, and I pointed my Keyblade at Sora. Green light surrounded him, and he got up soon enough.

"Thanks!" he shouted, and continued attacking that monster. He cast blizzard, and the monster fell to it's knees. It evaporated into light, and I saw a heart floating out of it's body. I forgot why the hearts came out, and I tried hard to think on it. But nothing came up.

Sora sighed, he looked a but fatigued. We heard the doorknob sigh, and we turned to face him.

"What a racket," he said. "How's a doorknob to get any sleep?"

as he yawned a keyhole appeared in his mouth. And we all drew in closer to take a look, it started to glow. My Keyblade started to glow, as well as Sora's, they both started to point at the keyhole and a ray of light burst from both of the Keyblades. They combined together, and went towards the keyhole. It looked like it was closing.

"What was that?" asked Donald.

All of a sudden we heard a noise, as if something closed.

"You hear that?" said Sora. "Sounded like something closed."

Something fell on the floor, and it looked kind of familiar. Goofy took a closer look and observed it. "This gummi ain't like the others. No, sir," said Goofy.

"Okay, I'll hold onto it," Donald picked up the gummi piece.

As Sora, Donald and Goofy observed the gummi piece, I noticed my necklace disappeared. Where was my Keyblade! I felt something fit in my hand, and I saw it was a key. And a chain attached to it. That was reasonable. It was a **KEY**blade after all. So I placed the the chain on my belt, and there hung the Key.

"Splendid. You're quite the hero," the Cheshire cat appeared once again.

We all turned around, and he was standing there. "If you're looking for Alice, she's not here," he said. "She's gone! Off with the shadows, into darkness."

the cat disappeared. I looked over to Sora, his was filled with sadness. I guess we really were too late to save her.

"Let's go back to our gummy ship. We might find her in another world," said Donald. Maybe he was right. We'd find her somewhere else.

"Well let's go back to the teleport spot where we came from," said Goofy. "That'll return us to out ship."

So we headed back to the room where we first came from. Along the way, I kept thinking of something. Where could Dustin be? That letter had his handwriting. But why was it here, in kingdom hearts? None of it made sense, but It still made me happy that I have something from at least ONE of my family members.

"Here," I heard Sora say from beside me. I looked at him, and he had an elixir in his hands.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"This is your birthday gift, isn't it?" he smiled at me. I looked at the elixir, and I took it. I stared at it. Even if nothing makes sense right now, this moment made sense. I had a friend who was really nice, even considerate. I don't remember ever having friends like this.

"Thanks Sora," I said. I put the elixir in my pocket. I went to look at him and I gave him one of my more happier smiled. He started to laugh, and I started laughing as well.

We stopped laughing, and we headed to the teleport. Soon enough we were in the gummi ship.

"So where to next, captain?" I asked.

"Hmmm," Sora looked at the monitor. A world filled with sand appeared. It also looked familiar. "It looks we're heading to Olympus Coliseum," he said.

I nodded, and we landed the ship outside of the gates to Olympus Coliseum. We walked all the way into the middle, and noticed there was no one. Sora scratched his head and so did Goofy. I looked around, this place looked so familiar. I closed my eyes, and I was able to see myself playing a video game, but I couldn't figure out the name of the game. I opened my eyes, and I decided to not focus on it.

We walked into the next room, and it looked like the lobby. We saw a goat-looking man writing something on a chalkboard. We approached the goat-looking guy. He looked _very_ familiar.

"Um..." Sora tried to get the attention of the goat.

"Good timing. Give me a hand, will ya?" the goat-man said. "Move that pedestal over there for me."

"I gotta spruce this place up for the games," he continued.

Sora didn't bother to ask the goat-man what he was talking about. He just decided to help out the man. We walked over to the pedestal, and Sora decided to push it. But we soon found out it was impossible to push.

Sora went back to the goat man. "It's way too heavy!" he said to the man.

"What? Too heavy?" he shouted. "Since when have you been such a little-"

He looked up, but then looked down. He stared at Sora and then had a look of stupidity on his face. "Oh. Wrong guy. What're you doing here?" he asked.

"This here's the world-famous coliseum—heroes only!" he angrily said. "And I got my hands full preparing for the games."

he started walking towards Donald, since I guess he's somewhat taller than him, and Donald started to back up. "So run along, pip-squeaks, he said.

Sora's face turned from confusion to anger. I'm guessing he didn't like the word 'pip-squeak' as he glared at the goat man. He noticed Sora's glare and sighed. He placed his hands on his hips as he began to speak.

"Look, it's like this," he started. "Heroes are coming from all over to fight ferocious monsters right here in the coliseum."

Donald, angry, spoke. "You got heroes standing right in front of you," he said.

Goofy came in between you and Sora, he placed his hands on both yours and Sora's shoulder. "Yup. They're real heroes chosen by the Keyblade!" he said. I mentally slapped myself. What were they getting us into?

Sora, however, smiled. Accepting the fact that he really is a hero. I was having a hard time believing I'm a hero, I didn't do much after all.

"And we're heroes, too," said Donald. Proudly pointing at himself.

The goat man stared in disbelief, "hero? Those two runts?" he started to burst out laughing. Which to be honest, made me a little angry. I didn't care if I wasn't a hero, but I'm not a runt. Looking at the goat man, I could easily just kick him and WHA-POOF. Tko'ed. Totally knocked out.

Sora grew even angrier than before, "What's so funny? I've fought a bunch of monsters!" he proudly pounded his chest.

After a good minute of laughing out loud, the goat man spoke, "hey, if you can't even move this..."

he started to push the pedestal.

"You can't call yourself..."

he began pushing it with his back.

Sora crossed his arms and smirked. Goat man was all talk!

"A hero!"

he kept pushing and pushing and pushing until he gave up and sat down from exhaustion.

"Okay, so it takes more than brawn. Well, well, let's what you can do," he said in between huffs of air.

"This trial is tough. You got what it takes?" said the goat man. Sora looked at him and thought for a moment. He shook his head and looked at the man. "I'm ready!"

"You ready to fight too little lady?" he looked at me. Wait what? I was going to fight too? "I'm fighting too?" I asked. Sora looked at me, and he smiled proudly.

"Yeah! Let's show him we ARE heroes!" he pounded his chest again. I sighed, well I'll feel bad if I say no. "Okay, I'm in," I said.

The goat man showed us to the battle arena, and then he looked over to us, "the rules are simple. Bust all the barrels within the time limit." Well that seems simple enough. Sora looked over at me.

"Do you wanna go first?" he asked. I thought for a moment, I was always the type of person to get things over with. I remember when I did projects in school I always wanted to go first so I was done with it. Heh, I remember those times. Me and...

wait, did I even have friends? I don't remember.

I noticed Sora looking at me, and he looked concerned. I decided to not think about it, and I smiled at Sora, "I wanna go first! I don't like going last," I said.

"Alright, let's see what you can do," said the goat man.

I walked to the arena, and I saw twenty barrels. The goat man said I had thirty seconds to get rid of them. I took out my Keyblade, hopefully I don't make a fool out of myself.

"Ready? Go!"

I felt like the Keyblade took over, because I was hitting barrels like no tomorrow. It took three quick hits for me to actually break the barrels. But I was doing a good job if I do say so myself.

Within a few seconds, I finished off the last barrel.

"Not bad! You stopped at ten seconds. Pretty good, for a beginner," said the goat man. Sora walked up to me and gave me a pat on my shoulder. "Good job!" he exclaimed. He smiled and took a deep breath, "wish me luck!"

"Good luck!" I laughed.

Sora stood in the middle of the arena, and waited for the goat man to give the go. Once he did Sora was all over the barrels, he was doing wicked tricks, and awesome moves with his Keyblade and after what seemed like a five seconds he was done.

"Wow, you stopped at 15 seconds, not bad!" the goat man said. "You guys are better than I thought."

Sora left the arena, and we all headed to the lobby. I leaned against the wall, and Donald and Goofy stood not too far. Sora came in from the arena and stood in between Donald and I.

"you know, you ain't bad, kids," said the goat man.

Sora laughed, "looks like me and Marie are headed for the games," he placed his hands on the back of his head. Gloating about our victory.

"Afraid not," said the goat man.

"Why not?" shouted Sora, and Donald also looked appalled. Even though he didn't do any fighting.

"Two words," said the goat man, raising two fingers. "You guys ain't heroes."

that was FOUR words you idiot. Not two. Geez.

"Come on!" whined Sora. Donald lowered his shoulders out of sadness. Goofy was counting his finger, possibly trying to figure out how many words the goat man said. Oh poor not-so-smart Goofy, it was four words.

"Wanna become real heroes? Start by mastering this spell," the goat man gave Sora and I a glass orb, it was yellow and had a lightning bolt emblem. It disappeared in Sora's hands, but not in mine. I figured maybe it was because that lady gave me the power beforehand. Lady? Wait, but I knew her name! What was it?

"Huh? Why ain't it meltin' in your hands?" the goat man looked at me. I froze, what do I say? What do I do?

"Maybe it's not working?" said Sora. He started knocking on the orb. But nothing. I started breathing really deeply. I was getting nervous.

"Gawrsh, maybe it is?" added Goofy. Donald looked at the orb, and he started knocking on it too. I think he also thought it was broken.

"Yea I think it is," I lied. At least for now, I didn't know what to say to them.

"Really, huh. Guess that means you ain't a hero," said the goat man. Oh shut up! I don't care about being a hero!

"Hey! We're all heroes! All for one, one for all," said Sora.

"Yup. We'll help you learn that spell one way or another," added Goofy.

"Yeah! Then we'll be heroes!" joined Donald.

They all defended me. And I'm lying to them right now. But I'm doing it for a good cause right? I mean, it would make them worry if I told them I met someone evil back in Wonderland, right? This is just temporary. Just a temporary lie. But...how will I tell them that they're all video game characters?

"well you better if you guys wanna be heroes!" I heard the goat man.

"hmph! We will!" Sora exclaimed.

We walked out of the coliseum and into the main entrance. Sora, Donald and Goofy were still grumpy from the fact that the goat man didn't consider us heroes, and were venting about it. But my mind was too focused on my lie. I felt so horrible, but it _is_ for a good reason...right?

"Rather a stubborn old goat, wouldn't you say?" my thoughts got interrupted when we heard a voice behind us.

We turned around and saw a grey-skinned man with black and grey robes on. He had fire on his head, which I'm guessing was his hair. It was electric blue.

"Who are you?" Donald asked suspiciously.

"Whoa, hold it there, fuzz boy," said the man. "wait, let me guess. You want to enter the games, right?"

he placed his hand on my shoulder and place another on Sora's.

"Well, then hey, get a load of this," he let go of our shoulders and a card appeared in his hand. He showed it to Sora.

"A pass?" Sora asked.

"It's all yours. Good luck, kid," he said. "And this, my dear, is for you."

yellow light appeared around me, and it disappeared after. It really didn't do anything as I felt nothing from it.

"I gave you the spell that you two had to master," he said. "I'm pulling for you two."

he then disappeared into smoke. Did that man just help me with my lie? He looked so familiar, but I couldn't pinpoint where. But he had helped me, so he couldn't be bad, right?

"Cool, we can enter with this now!" Sora said Happily. Donald and Goofy both looked happy as well. Sora looked at me, and smiled.

"Let's show 'em we're heroes, Marie!" he said. And I smiled.

But I still felt horrible for lying, and I felt unnerved about that man knowing about my lie.

* * *

Some if you might think that the relationship between Sora and Marie is going a bit too fast, but don't worry. I don't intend for them to fall in love quickly, i figure I'd do that somewhere near the game. I have other plans for our little Marie, and they involve Sora and everyone else from the KH series.

Also, have you noticed that Marie is forgetting a lot of things that she really shouldn't be forgetting? i.e her home, her friends, important video game characters?

Yes, well, that's all part of the story. Although I d wonder why she is forgetting all those important things, well, only time will tell.

Time for some answers!

**ShimmerMist :**  
I'm glad you think so, I really appreciate that you guys take the time to read my story. I figure it is the least I could do.

At level 70 it is possible to defeat him. But trust me when I say, the battle will take FOREVER. Sephiroth has no intention of being defeated, and he shows it brutally. T_T But best of luck! have many patience and you shall overcome that which is called pain-in-the-rear Sephiroth!

And thank you so much for you compliment! I'm very glad you notice my progress, it makes me feel happy that someone is keeping tabs on my writing skillz.

And yes, birthday presents are ftw. I Figured it was appropriate to put that in the world of Wonderland. The chapters will be long, possibly from 5000-7000 words each. I'm not making this story any longer than chapter 30, as I have other plans for Marie, Sora, Donald and Goofy.

**kelseyluv2read16:**  
Hey you're still reading, so I'm not gonna leave you out!

Thank you very much for your compliment, it's very much appreciated. I know the story is very cliched [girl got sucked into video game blah-blah-blah], but this story will have a slight #$%$%%$%$^%^%$#$%MAJOR$%$%$#^%$#%$%$ twist at the end. So I hope you tune in for that!

As, for the rest of you who read this chapter, thank you very very very much! **-gives virtual Llamas to all readers-**


	6. Chapter Six: Strife Peril Monkeys

**Chapter Six: Strife. Peril. Monkeys.**

"Hey, how'd you get this?" said the Goat man.

"Can we enter the games now?" asked Sora.

"Well... I guess so. We start with the preliminaries!" he exclaimed. "Some real weirdos signed up for the games."

well, this should be fun.

"Better watched yourself," the goat man warned.

Sora, Donald, Goofy and I headed for the arena. We were going to fight some heartless. Sora was excited, as he was now able to prove his worth. Donald was also excited, he was even more happier about becoming a hero. Goofy was just smiling along the way.

I'm not gonna bore you about how the fight went, but we did pass the round.

"You're not heroes yet, but you ain't doing bad," said the goat man. "Lucky you came to me for coaching."

As the goat man started stroking his beard, a tall blonde man started walking past him. He walked past us as well, but he took a good stare at us, and we did the same. It was like battle of the stares.

I noticed one thing about him though, he sorta had the same haircut as Sora. Just maybe spikier and blonde. He was really handsome too, but I _obviously_ knew I was too young for him.

"Something tells me he'll be a tough one to beat," said the goat man. "Who knows, maybe you'll end up facing him."

I also have a feeling that I've seen him somewhere else, but I don't know where. Well anyways, the next two fights that we had to fight were easy. And in no time we beat them. So we took a break before the next ones.

"Say, you're better than I though, kid!" said the goat man. "Wish he was here to see this."

"Who?" Sora asked.

"Hercules. He's a hero if ever there was one," he answered. "Too bad he's off visiting his father."

we went back into fighting two more levels, and to sum it all up we beat those losers bad. Beat 'em bad! Yeah!

"You guys, we're a great team!" I exclaimed. Goofy and Donald smiled and started doing a little dance. Sora and I high-fived each other and also started to prance around Donald and Goofy's dance. I don't know why, but I was in a really good mood.

**3rd P.O.V  
-x-  
Hades and Cloud**

"That little punk is your next opponent, okay?" said Hades. "Now, don't bow it. Just take him out."

Hades looked over to the spiky blonde known as Cloud. "But don't hurt the girl. When that little punk and his two followers are down on the ground, you snatch her right away!"

Cloud looked at Hades for a good two seconds, "the great god of the Underworld is afraid of a kid?"

"Sorry, but my contract says-" he was interrupted by Hades.

"I know! You think I don't know? I wrote the contract!" he quickly and annoyingly said. "I know it says you're only required to kill Hercules in this tournament. But you've gotta fight that kid to get to him. And the girl is important. Come on."

They both looked at Sora and Marie talking with the goat. Hades looked at Marie with more interest, "hey it's like that old goat says."

"Rule eleven: it's all just a game, so let loose and have fun with it!" Hades started to encourage Cloud. "I mean, a casualty and a kidnapping along the way is no big deal, right?"

Cloud simply walked away, neither acknowledging or ignoring what Hades said. Hades stared as Cloud left the bleachers. "Geez. Stiffer than the stiffs back home," he mumbled to himself.

"Still, suckers like him are hard to come by..." he placed his index finger in his chin.

**1st PO.V  
-x-  
Marie**

We had just finished fighting the last fight, which was the semi-final before the actual final match. When we waited for the next battle to begin, the man we saw before, the blonde one, appeared. Were we going to fight him? He looks so strong, I felt my confidence lowering just a bit. This guy was ten times our height! And probably ten times our strength. But even if my confidence about myself lowered, I still had high confidence for Sora, Donald and Goofy. They were awesome fighters, way better than me, so my respect and confidence in them was high.

The man took the chance to strike first. And he headed straight for Sora. Sora dodged, and rolled out of the way. Donald began casting spells, while Goofy supported Sora's attack. I placed myself as healer, since the man wasn't attacking me I figured I'd be the one healing.

But it was really for nothing, this guy Knocked out Donald and Goofy in one fell swoop. And it was only Sora and I.

"You can do it Sora! Stay focused! I'll go help Donald and Goofy!" I saw him quickly turn and he smiled at me. He managed to block an attack while he smiled too, which made my mouth flung open in amazement. He has such great skills.

I ran towards Goofy, and I quickly healed his wounds. He got up and thanked me, and then went to help Sora. Alright one down, one more to go. I rant over to Donald. But when I did, Goofy was knocked out again! Ugh, this is ridiculous! I got up and looked at Goofy, and he didn't seem _too_ hurt. So I decided to heal him again.

But then Sora fell to the ground. And it was only me left. I felt my anxiety attack build up, but for a whole different reason than when I usually do. I was going to **friggin' die!** I saw the man walking up to me. I can't have an anxiety attack, not right now! I had to be ignore it. And by doing that I had to focus on something else.

So I took out my Keyblade and attacked the man. My blade deflected off his, and he used his blade to throw mine away. I grabbed my arm, and then started to _literally_ drag me towards Sora.

"Let me go! Let me go!" I shouted. I tried scratching his hand, but he didn't seem effected by it. I bit his hand and still nothing, except for a weird look on his face.

He stood in front of Sora, and raised his blade. Was he going to kill Sora! No, I couldn't let this happen. I struggled to get his grip off me, but I stopped when he didn't make a move. Maybe he wasn't going to hurt Sora?

No, actually. He didn't attack because a huge monster with three heads just suddenly popped up. The monster attacked him, and covered me as we flew to the side. I wasn't hurt but..

First you're trying to kill me and then you save me! Make up your mind already!

"Marie!" I heard Sora call out to me, but I couldn't really see him because of the monster's leg.

**3rd P.O.V  
-x-  
Hades**

"Oh, right, there was one other rule I forgot," mumbled Hades. "Accidents happen."

Hades smirked and disappeared into the darkness. Whatever happened he was sure Cerberus would give Sora and his companions a very hard time.

**1st P.O.V  
-x-  
Marie**

I took the man's arms off of me, and ran towards Sora. He looked rather relieved that I was okay, and It made me smile. Oh, but this was no time to be smiling! There was a huge monster in front of us!

As the monster was about to attack, we saw it being lifted. My eyes went opened, what the heck was going on?

"Herc!" yelled the goat man. I saw a tall muscular man holding up the monster.

"Phill, get then out of here!" he yelled.

The goat man, now known as Phill, shouted at us to leave the arena. We started to run to the lobby, but I noticed Sora was still standing, worried about Hercules.

"Come on!" I shouted, and I grabbed his hand and ran to the lobby.

"Whew, that was close!" Phill, safe and sound, said. "That was Cerberus, the guardian of the underworld. Herc should be able to handle him."

Phill looked a little concerned though, "but then again, maybe not..this doesn't look good."

Sora had a worried look on his face,and he began to enter the arena. But Phill spoke.

"Kid, you're not entering the arena, are ya?" he asked. "This ain't just some match. This is for real!"

"You can decide if I'm hero material or not," said Sora. And he ran to the arena. Donald and Goofy followed him.

"That kid doesn't know when to quit," Phill sighed. I looked at him and then at the door leading to the arena.

"No, he doesn't," I said. "But that's what makes him strong, he never gives up."

I ran and followed Sora, Donald and Goofy. In the short time that I knew Sora, I could tell he always tries his hardest. He has such a great sense of justice, and to be honest, I was a little jealous of that.

As I ran into the room, I saw Hercules backing up into the wall. He was carrying the man that had previously tried to us before. The dog, er, Cerberus turned over from Hercules to Sora, Donald and Goofy. I ran up to them, and I took out my Keyblade. I wasn't going to freak out like the last battle, I was apart of the team, and I'm going to help as much as I can!

Hercules ran to the lobby, and Phill shouted at us, "runts, I got two words of advice for you."

"Attack!"

…...That's one word. I sighed, I was going to have to teach him how to count.

Cerberus roared, and started attacking. Sora dodged the attack, and jumped to attack one of it's nose. I hesitated, I wasn't so used to jumping but I had to do it. Not for my sake, but for my team's sake.

I ran towards the head on the left, I readied myself for the jump. I ran to it's paw, and I stepped on it, then I jumped and attacked it's nose. I didn't land very gracefully though, as I fell on my butt. But I had to ignore the pain, so I quickly got up and repeated to attack it's leg. Sora managed to knock out the right head. And he now focused on the middle. I was still focusing on the left one. I managed to repeat my actions a couple of times, and I was finally able to knock the left head unconscious.

But by the time I was done Sora had already finished knocking out the last head. Well, I was still happy at the fact that I knocked out at least _one_ head.

After the fight, Cerberus fell to the floor. He puffed out of the arena, I'm guessing he left to go where he came from. He walked into the lobby.

**-x-**

"Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes, and confer upon thee full rights and privileges to participate in the games. Further-"

Phill's announcement was interrupted when Donald spoke.

"Hey! What do you mean 'junior heroes'?" he angrily asked.

"You rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero," stated Phill. I sighed, figured it was too good to be true for Phill to call us real heroes.

"So, what does it take?" asked Goofy.

"Well, that's just something you'll have to find out for yourselves," said Hercules. "Just the way that I did."

find out for myself, eh? In that case, I'll never be a hero. I don't think there's anything here to prove that I'm a hero. For instance, I couldn't tell foe from friend. That man, Hades, was actually out to get Sora and I. And Cloud, the man we fought, was being used by him.

"No problem. We'll start by proving ourselves in the games," said Sora, raising his fist proudly.

"There ain't gonna be any games for a while," said Phill. "Gotta clean up the mess from that last battle first."

"Okay, we'll be back," Sora waved at Hercules and Phill. He started to walk off. I started to follow, but I heard Phill call out my name.

"Hey, girlie," I looked at him. "Take this, you'll need it if you're gonna be a hero."

I walked to Phill, and he gave me a glass orb. I took it and it disappeared into my hands. I got a mental image of myself jumping really high.

"That'll help with your jumping problem," he said. I looked at him and smiled.

"Thanks Phill!" I waved goodbye and ran so I could catch up with Sora.

**3rd P.O.V**

**-x-**

**Phill and Hercules**

"I still can't believe those two squirts actually near Cerberus," Phill was still waving goodbye even after Sora and the rest left.

"Just between us," Hercules confessed. "I'd already worn Cerberus down by the time those two jumped in."

"My lips are sealed," smirked Phill. He knew Sora and Marie couldn't have handled Cerberus on their own.

** 1st P.O.V**

**-x-  
**

**Marie**

"I can't believe we got a hero license!" I exclaimed. It was nice that Phill at least recognized us as somewhat heroes.

"But we still have to prove him that we can be _real_ heroes!" he pounded his chest. I started to laugh, but that laugh disappeared as we saw Cloud, the man we fought in the arena, sitting on a step.

"Hey, are you all right?" asked Sora.

"Yeah," responded Cloud.

"So, why did you go along with him, anyway?" demanded Sora.

"I'm looking for someone. Hades promised to help," Cloud placed his chin on his hands. "I tried to exploit the power of darkness, but it backfired."

Cloud got up, and looked at the sky, "I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light."

"You'll find it," said Sora. Cloud looked at him. "Me and Marie and are searching, too."

I looked at Sora. Finding my light, finding my family. Returning home. I started to think on my home, but when I was drawing blanks I frowned. I couldn't remember my home, I noticed that actually. I was forgetting a lot of things, and it was always in the back of my mind. The only thing I could really only remember was my family. Or at least, Stella and Dustin. I hung out with them almost everyday, and I vividly remember all the memories I had with them. I remember my parents, but some memories of them were a bit blurry.

"For you light?" asked Cloud, which got me out of my thoughts.

Sora nodded, and Cloud walked up to us.

"Don't lose sight of it," he said. He looked at me after, and he took out an envelope. " This is for you." he handed me the envelope.

"How about a rematch sometime! Fair and square!" asked Sora.

Cloud stopped walking, and flung back a strand of his hair. "I think I'll pass." he continued walking.

"Oh well," Sora sighed. "What's in the envelope?"

I looked at him, and at the envelope. I didn't want to read it here.

"I dunno, I'll read it while we head to the next world," I said. Sora nodded and then we left for the gummi ship.

** 3rd P.O.V**

**-x-  
**

**Hades**

"He's strong, he's kind. He's always there for you, and he's handsome to boot," Hades looked at the replica doll of Hercules. "He's perfect. Perfect. Perfectly infuriating! He makes me crazy!"

the flames on Hades' head turned crimson red, and he started getting angry. But soon enough he calmed down,

"Wait a minute. What are you worried about?" he said to himself. "All the pieces are in place. Relax."

"Here's what you do," he said. "Let Hercules train the kids."

"In the next game, I'll take care of them all." he clenched his fist. "Who invited you to the party? Stay out of this. This is my show."

Maleficent stood behind Hades, "As you wish. Fight to your heart's content."

**1st P.O.V**

**-x-  
**

**Marie**

When we arrived on the gummi ship, Sora and the others had completely forgotten about my envelope as Sora 'accidentally' pushed the 'DO NOT TOUCH' button. I was pretty thankful for it really, I didn't feel like reading them the letter.

I opened up the envelope, and out popped a picture. It fell on my bed, and I picked it up. The picture had Dustin, Stella, mom and dad in a family portrait. I wasn't in the picture. I checked the back, and in mom's handwriting I saw it was dated a year ago. I started to get confused, where was I? Was I sick on this day? I decided to read the letter.

'Tell me this,

Which is the dream? And which is reality?  
What should you believe? And what shouldn't you believe?  
What exists here that doesn't over _there_?  
When is a game _more_ than just a game?

The letter, or rather, pair of riddles confused me more. What was going? What's happening to my family? Does somebody out there know about my family? Were they trying to threatened me or something?

I laid down on my bed. And I began to cry, nothing made sense anymore, and it was killing me. I was forgetting things, and last I remembered, I had very good memory. Someone out there must be playing tricks on me.

I dropped the envelope, but there revealed another letter, I picked it up.

Marie,

Do you remember the time we made that Wasabi cake and told Dustin it was pistachio cake? I always laugh when he ate the whole cake. He spent hours in the washroom washing his tongue.

- Stella

I had stopped crying by now, and I started to remember that time. That was something I did remember. Of course how could I? I love Stella and Dustin more than my parents, mainly because my parents were always at work. They rarely spent time with us because of their work.

I washed myself up before leaving my room and heading towards the control room. I didn't want the guys seeing my face all red and puffy. I checked my face, there were little signs of me crying, and that meant I would have to avoid eyes contact with the guys, or else they would know.

I stepped into the control room and I saw Donald and Sora fighting over who was going to fly the ship this time. In all honesty, It sounded funny when Donald started yelling, it was annoying. But still funny.

"Where to next?" I asked, although my face was shaky. Sora looked at me, and I looked down, pretending to fix my shoe so he wouldn't see my face.

"Umm," Sora looked at the screen.

"Hey, Donald, maybe King Mickey's down there," said Goofy. I stood beside him and looked at the screen, it was very...Natural, to say the least.

"In a backwater place like that? No way!" shouted Donald. Backwater as it may appear, it did look fun to swim in the water there.

"Let's move on," said Donald. I kinda wanted to go, maybe Dustin and Stella were there.

"Hold on. Riku and Kairi might be down there," Stated Sora. In a weird way, I started getting happy at the thought that Riku might be here. I don't know why though.

""Let's check it out, Marie's family might be there too," continued Sora.

"Forget it! We're on an important mission!" Donald shouted again. I suppose King Mickey is more important than my family. What am I saying! My family means more than some King!

"We're landing and that's it!" I shouted. I grabbed control of the wheel and started steering, I didn't know how to drive but heck! My family might be down there and I wasn't going to let a disadvantage bring me down!

"Don't touch that!" shouted Donald. "Nooooooo!"

I pressed the gas pedal really hard, and the ship went awry. Donald started screaming, and Goofy joined. They both started running around screaming. Sora was tripping from side to side, trying to get a good balance. I tried to steer the ship, but when I pressed the gas pedal I fell out of my seat, and started flipping around.

The ship abruptly stopped, and the last thing I remembered before being flown out was Sora also flying out of the ship. Now I know that I should always have my seat belt on.

**3rd P.O.V  
-x-  
Sora**

Sora had fallen from the ship all the way into a tree house. He now knew never to let Marie drive the gummi ship, that nearly scarred him.

He got up and scratched his head. "Owww...my head..."

He got up and looked around, he looked at his surround and saw that he was in a house.

"Donald? Goofy?" he called out. "Marie?"

He kept looking, and then he heard a noise. He looked up and saw a leopard getting ready to attack him. He quickly took out his Keyblade and tried to block the attack, but it proved useless as the leopard brutally knocked him back. Oh how we wished Donald, Goofy, and Marie were here to help him, but nonetheless he had to fight the leopard alone.

Sora blocked the first attack from the Leopard, and attacked right afterward. The leopard was extremely fast, so it was hard for Sora to get any hits. He cast thunder, and then fire. The Leopard stopped to recover from the attack, but Sora attacked it before it could get up. And that made the Leopard fall to the floor.

While catching his breath, Sora looked at the animal, and slowly started to approach it. To gain confirmation that it was actually knocked out. But as soon he stepped forward the leopard immediately got up and roared. Sora fell to the floor from the roar, and the leopard began to jump him. As he jumped Sora closed his eyes and covered himself with the Keyblade, only to feel that nothing was attacking. He looked up and saw a topless man wearing a loincloth. His hair was long and styled in dreadlocks.

Well, whoever he was he managed to scare away the leopard.

"Sabor, danger," he said.

"Um... thank you," responded Sora, unsure of what else to say.

"Thank you," repeated the man

"huh? Uh, what is this place?" Sora asked.

"This place, this place," repeated the man again.

"Okaaay...Where did the others go?" Sora asked again. Speaking with this man was rather difficult. "Look, I got separated from my friends. Have you seen them?"

The man only gave Sora a questioning look.

"Friiieeeennnnnndddssss," Sora said it slowly so the man could understand.

"Friends," repeated the man yet again.

"Right, my friends!" Sora exclaimed happily. "There's three of 'em. The loud one is Dona-"

Sora stopped midway. He realized what he was saying, what started out as looking for Riku and Kairi, turned into searching for Marie, Donald and Goofy. He shook his head, he was searching for Riku and Kairi. Not the others.

"You know what? Never mind," he said. "I'm looking for my friends, Riku and Kairi."

"Look for Riku, friends?" asked the man.

"Right!" said Sora.

Sora had looked behind the man, and saw an Image of Kairi.

"Kairi, friends?" asked the man again.

"Uhh...right..." said Sora, not paying attention to the man. He then saw Kairi walk away.

"Friends here," said the man. Sora looked at the man, and his eyes went wide.

"Really?" he asked.

The man had begun saying a bunch of grunts and hoots, and Sora couldn't understand. The man finished off by saying, "friends here."

"Not sure I understand, but show me!" Sora said happily. "Take me to Riku and Kairi!"

"Tarzan," said the man, pointing to himself, Sora guessed that was his name. "Tarzan go."

"And I'm...Sora," he said, emphasizing on his name, also pointing at himself. "Tarzan go, Sora go go!"

And so Sora followed Tarzan. He was finally going to meet up with Riku and Kairi.

**3rd P.O.V  
-x-  
Donald and Goofy**

"Gawrsh, where are we?" asked Goofy. "I sure hope Sora and Marie are okay..."

Goofy was sitting on a grassy little rock-like hill. He looked at the surroundings.

"Aw, who needs 'em? We can find the king without him," stated Donald. He clearly wasn't happy with the way things turned out. He was sure Marie was never going to drive the gummi ship again. He went to grab his staff, but felt something soft, something like hair. "Huh?"

when he looked down he came face to face with a gorilla. They both looked at each other and then they both screamed their lungs out. The gorilla had ran away, and left something behind. Goofy and Donald noticed the thing on the floor.

However, they heard footsteps, and they both gulped and prepared for the worst.

They were met with a man holding a gun..

**1st P.O.V  
-x-  
Marie**

"Ugh, now I know why seat belts are so important," I said to myself. I sat up, and rubbed my arm. To my surprise, I wasn't dead from the fall. Which is good.

I got up, and I looked around. Sora, Donald, nor Goofy were anywhere in sight. All I saw were damn trees and grass everywhere. I sighed to myself, I'm never driving the gummi ship for as long as I live. My dad made it look so easy when he drives the car, but I guess it's harder than it looks.

I started to walk around, not really having a destination. I heard footsteps though, and I immediately raised my guard. They came from behind, and I slowly started to turn around, I then noticed a gorilla.

I'm very dumb in the sense that I can't tell whether an animal is male or female just by looking at it, so I'm going to assume it was male. As the gorilla came up to me, to stared for a minute, and then it lifted me up. And then it started walking.

I couldn't think of anything except for that fact that I felt like I was in the movie, King Kong.

**3rd P.O.V  
-x-  
Sora**

As Sora and Tarzan reached a base, they entered a tent.

"Jane!" said Tarzan. Sora looked at the woman standing in front of them.

"Tarzan!" she exclaimed happily and turned around. She noticed Sora. "Oh, and who is this?"

"Uh, hi there. I'm-"

Sora was cut off as Jane spoke, "Oh, you speak English!" she said. "So, then, obviously you're not related to Tarzan..."

"Are you here to study the gorillas?" she asked.

"Highly doubtful."

A man wielding a gun came in. Goofy and Donald were also with him.

"Sora!" exclaimed Goofy.

"Goofy! Donald!" Sora ran towards Donald and hugged him. But then realized he was pretty upset with him because he wouldn't land in the first place. Sora began to look at them, and noticed something.

Where was Marie?

"A circus of clowns. Not much use for hunting gorillas," said the man.

"Mr. Clayton, we're studying them, not hunting them," protested Jane. "This is research."

She sighed as Clayton left the tent.

"Well, more the merrier," she said. "Do make yourselves at home."

Sora still didn't bother talking to Donald.

"Well, anyway..." he said.

"I'm staying!" Both Sora and Donald said in unison. "Huh?" said Sora.

"Sora, look what we found," he took out a gummi piece. "look at this."

"What's that?" asked Sora.

"A gummi block. It's the same stuff used to build our ship," answered Donald.

"So that means..." asked Sora.

"The king could be here," replied Donald. "So, we've gotta work together to look for him."

"For now," continued Donald.

Sora scoffed, "Fine, I'll let you tag along.

"For now," Sora eyed Donald.

Sora then took the opportunity to ask Donald and Goofy if they've seen Marie. If he wasn't able to find her, maybe they did.

"Did you guys see Marie by any chance?" he asked.

"We thought she'd be with you," answered Goofy. He looked around the area and only saw Sora, Donald, the woman and the man. "But I guess she's not here."

Sora began to worry, what if there were heartless here? He had faith in Marie, and hoped for the best that nothing bad happened to her.

But that's all he could do. Hope that his friend and partner was alright.

**1st P.O.V  
-x-  
Marie**

Monkey, gorillas, apes. Whatever.

They're all so cool.

The gorilla that kidnapped me took me deeper into the jungle, and I was now standing beside her with a bunch of gorillas and monkeys staring at us.

The gorilla beside me began to hoot, and she was using her hands. The really big looking ape in front of us grunted, and I wasn't sure what he was saying. The one beside me started hooting even more, and the ape sighed, or at least I _think_ he did.

When the gorilla beside me started jumping up and down, she turned to me and lifted me up. He took me to some area and then started patting me, kind of like how mothers so to their babies.

OH MY GOD.

Was this gorilla hitting on me!

**3rd P.O.V  
-x-  
Sora, Donald, and Goofy**

Jane was showing slides of pictures. She had told Sora that Tarzan doesn't really understand English and only repeats what he hears. Sora sighed when he heard this. But still collected the pictures that Jane has asked for.

As she was showing the pictures Sora began to worry more about Marie. Every minute that passed made Sora think that those minutes where spent in her being attacked by heartless. He was standing here helping out Tarzan, but he just wanted to go and find Marie. One for all, all for one.

"Well, Tarzan?" Jane asked.

"Where are my friends, Marie, Riku and Kairi?" he asked. Now adding in Marie, she _did_ count as a friend, and she _is_ missing.

Tarzan shook his head, not knowing where they were.

"Hey, I thought-"

"That leaves just one place," Clayton interrupted Sora. "Young man, we've been in this jungle for some time now."

"But we have yet to encounter these friends of yours," he continued. "I'd wager they're with the gorillas. But Tarzan refuses to take us to them."

"Really, Mr. Clayton. Tarzan wouldn't hide-"

"Then take us there! Take us to the gorillas," Clayton interrupted Jane as well. "Go-ril-las."

Tarzan looked over at Sora, who had a smile on his face. Sora nodded, and Tarzan agreed.

"Tarzan...are you sure?" asked Jane.

"Tarzan go see Kerchak," he said.

"Kerchak?" questioned Jane.

"He must be the leader. Perfect. I'll go along as an escort," said Clayton. "After all, the jungle is a dangerous place."

Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Tarzan head to the nesting grounds of the gorillas. All Sora could do was go along with Tarzan, any clue to finding Marie was good. Sora stopped to realized he was just worrying about Marie. What about Riku and Kairi? He was worried about them too. They're all his friends, so he shouldn't have outcast Riku and Kairi.

**1st P.O.V  
-x-  
Marie**

The gorilla that was cuddling me was a female.

You know why? Because there were no signs of her being a male. If you know what I mean. But I was happy because I wasn't getting hit on by a gorilla.

The gorilla let me walk around, and I noticed a small gorilla looking at me, it was female. So I walked up to her and waved. It felt weird waving to a gorilla, I would never have seen myself waving to gorillas at all. This really was an incredible feeling. The gorilla took my hand and started tugging me to go somewhere, I laughed and followed her.

We make it all the way into a tree house, and the gorilla starts to play around with the things in the tree house. I look around, and I couldn't help but notice this place. It looked so familiar, but it certainly didn't feel familiar.

I just watched as the Gorilla played with the globe.

**3rd P.O.V  
-x-  
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Tarzan**

Tarzan, along with Sora, Donald and Goofy stood in front of Kerchak and Kala.

"Kerchak, please listen to me," said Tarzan. "I know the nesting grounds are secret. But I trust them."

"You see, I want to help them because," he continued. "Because...well, they need us."

Kala looks at Kerchak, hoping to have him agree, but Kerchak just stares at Tarzan.

"Did you get that?" asked Goofy.

"no," responds Donald.

"Kerchak," says Tarzan. Kerchak looks up, a little distracted with something. He then leaves, and Kala follows soon after.

"He seemed sorta distracted by something," wondered Goofy.

"Was he looking towards the tree house?" Donald also wondered.

Tarzan sighed, and Donald proposed they go to the tree house. With no one disagreeing they all headed to the tree house.

**-x-**

Terk was playing with the globe, and Marie went looking outside. Clayton was standing at the door, and was pointing his gun towards Terk.

Marie had heard the cocking of the gun, and slowly started walking towards the door. She saw a man there with a shot-gun, and immediately started running towards him.

"Stop!" she pushed him to the floor, and missed the shot. She saw Terk running towards Kerchak, and stood beside him. Marie looked back at the man.

"What's your problem!" she yelled. Tarzan came in, and soon Sora, Goofy, and Donald came in after ward. Sora's eyes grew wide when he saw Marie, she was alive! She wasn't dead or anything, Sora sighed in relief. His friend was alive.

Marie turned around and saw Sora, Donald, and Goofy. She started smiling and mentally sighed to herself, they were alive and well. She was relieved.

"Wait. Kerchak. Please!" pleaded Tarzan. Kerchak stared, and then left, Terk sadly left as well.

**1st P.O.V**

**Marie**

Everyone stared at the man that had almost shot the little gorilla, I was glaring at him.

"You don't understand. I was only trying to," he looked around. "Ah. A snake slithered by, you see. I saved that poor gorilla's life."

I grew angry, no you weren't! You _wanted_ to kill her! You murderer! My anger got the best of me, as I walked up to him and gave him a good punch in the face.

"You weren't trying to do anything!" I shouted. "You're nothing but a murderer!"

The man had scoffed, rubbing his cheek, and got up to leave. Good! I hope he hurts!

As I calmed down however, I felt two thin arms surround me. I looked up and saw it was Sora giving me a hug. I was happy to see him too, but I don't think a hug was really necessary. More like a pat on the back was good.

"I'm glad you're safe," he said. "I was really worried."

Sora, worried about me? I felt my cheeks starting to burn, and I reluctantly returned the hug, though it felt awkward.

"I'm glad you're safe too. You, Donald and Goofy," I said. I saw from behind Sora's back, that Goofy and Donald were making love faces. I felt myself blush even more and I pulled away from Sora.

"So what are we going to do?" I asked. Sora smiled at me. "Let's head back to the tent."

I nodded. Didn't know there were tents here but sure, let's go. As I walked out of the tree houses, Sora's shoulder lightly rubbed off against mine, and he smiled at me. I began to realize, is Sora even allowed to crush on another girl? I mean, in the game he and Kairi have a thing for each other. And it's not like I'm changing that, right? I'm not actually interfering with the storyline right?

Right?

* * *

Well I must say, I didn't really enjoy writing this chapter COUGH-olympus coliseum-COUGH. But it got more interesting to write afterward.

I'm actually quite happy with the way I've planned out this story though. You see, after comparing notes and time-lines for this story, I noticed my newer version seemed SO much better. And made A LOT more sense. My original Idea was so bland and boring, I'm pretty sure you guys would have hated it.

At first I wasn't so sure about adding Birth By Sleep, but by adding it, it made my story SO much better.

Also, did you know Marie means Star of the sea? I didn't know that until now, I just picked the name out of pure random and the fact that it was a very common name. But looking back on my notes, it fits in PERFECTLY with the storyline, in a subliminal way. Heh-heh.

Anyways, I hoped you enjoyed this long chapter. The next one shall be most interesting, I assure you.

Now, for the thank-yous.

Thank you:  
**sajere1**  
** Obsession239600020305**

For placing this story into your favourites, much love!

Thank you:  
**halogirl117pr**  
** Ziddy2343**  
** Obsession239600020305**  
** sajere1**

For placing this story into your story alert list, so much more love!

Now for reviews:

**ShimmerMist:**  
Ahaha, and I have developed an odd habit of posting them past midnight!

And maybe, maybe not~ I don't want to tell, though I'm tempted, you guys anything that might spoil this story.

And yay! Fuzzy Llama FTW!

**sajere1:**  
Saj, you are too kind!  
And yes so do I, there is more to Marie than meets the eye. And thank you for loving her personality, I feared for the worst and that would be that she's too mary-sue.

And of course, for now you'll see third points of view. But I'll be sure to add in his, though it may prove difficult since I don't know what goes through that kid's head.

But mix things up I shall!

**Obsession239600020305:**

First thing, I totally love your name. And I'm not being sarcastic, call me weird when I say I like seeing big numbers!

And second, I wrote Jarfar instead? -goes and checks previous chapter- Aww snap I did! Thank you very much for telling me!

And thank you for the compliment! I really had to think of a storyline that first off made sense, most 'pulled in into the game' are boring, so I chose to go in a different direction with it. A MUCH MORE EPICALLY DIFFERENT WAY. Well maybe not 'epic', but definitely a different way.

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Thank you very much for your compliments! Kairi for the most part, will not really appear much since it will be in Marie's POV. But she will in Sora's. So stay tuned and she will come unfortunately. T_T

And I'm happy that you noticed that they're becoming friends first instead of just jumping off into the whole 'I think I love him!' scene. Sora cares for her, but just as a friend. Nothing more at this point.

And awesome! Marie is a common name, something that is rare in Kingdom hearts. I.e Riku, Kairi, Xemnas, Roxas, etc. so I went for something more common.

**Ziddy2343:**  
I hear ya buddy! Writing about it made me so angry, since it reminded me about the games. And oh lord don't get me started on Sephiroth.

Thank you! I'm so happy to read that you don't think it's boring or sucks! I had to think really hard for a good, if not, decent storyline. I agree that getting sucked into the video game type of stories are pretty bland and boring.[thus having to change the storyline many times before publishing this story] But I'm so happy you think it's not. You really make me feel so confident! XD

Thanks for reading!


	7. Chapter Seven:friends of my heart

**Chapter Seven: Friends of my heart.**

"How could you do such a thing!" the woman, who I found out is named Jane said.

"Now, miss Porter, as I told you, I was not aiming at the gorilla," the man, who I also found out is named Clayton said. Not that I care, really.

"You are not to go near the gorillas again!" she shouted, and I felt like joining in. but this is Jane and Clayton's fight.

"All because of one mishap?" Clayton looked at all of us. "Come, now..."

As he got a better look he saw all of us with angry and serious faces. Jane placed her hands on her hips, Sora crossed him arms, and both Donald and Goofy looked incredibly mad. The ape-like man named Tarzan also glared at Clayton. If anything, I was probably the most angriest. When I was younger, I remember being with Dustin and Stella while playing in the park. We saw two teenagers messing with a small dog, and as horrible as it sounds, we found out they were stabbing the out. Dustin and Stella stopped the boys, and when they asked them why they were doing it, they just said it was fun. Can you believe that? I wanted to hit them so badly.

Well anyways, Clayton left the room out of embarrassment. I hope he feels embarrassed, you don't do that ever. Geez, what a loser.

Of course, bad people never learn. We heard a gunshot from outside the tent, and I probably hit my highest level of anger, because I ran outside to see what that idiot was doing.

But my anger soon turned to concern, because I saw a gorilla being surrounded by heartless. I took out my Keyblade, and rushed to help the gorilla.

I cast thunder on one of the heartless, and the gorilla managed to escape. The heartless were now looking at me, bring it.

One of them charged at me, and I managed to dodge it. I tried to hit it, but it was pretty quick, well they did look like monkeys. But that wasn't important, I had to think of a way to outdo these things. When I came up with nothing, I heard Stella's voice in my head.

'_What? Did you forget you won second place in track?_'

Right, track and field. I remember Dustin and Stella were always at my meets, and even bought me ice cream after my last meet, where I won second place. I looked over to the heartless. Okay, time to show it who's boss!

I started to run after it, but when it was getting away I realized that I couldn't even run that fast. I don't understand, was I so out of shape or something that I couldn't run like I used to? Well either way, I had to take down that heartless.

I saw Sora, Goofy, Donald, and Tarzan running towards me. Tarzan managed to knock out the heartless I was after, and I was happy, a little embarrassed that it look him one attack, but still happy to see them here.

"Thank you, Tarzan," I said. He nodded.

"So what do we do now?" I asked. And before anyone could answer, we heard a noise coming from the bamboo thicket. I looked at Sora, and he looked at me. We didn't have to say anything, as we both started running towards the bamboo thicket.

Once there, we saw a dark brown thing atop of a rock. I walked up to it, and looked at it.

"Marie, watch out!" I heard Sora say. I looked behind me and saw a huge leopard jumped out of no where! I jumped out of the way, but I scrapped my elbow when I landed poorly.

"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned but looking at the leopard.

"Don't worry about me, we got to take out that leopard!" I exclaimed, and Sora nodded.

It went pretty fast the fight, with Tarzan with us. He seemed to know all the spots to make that leopard fall down quickly, I shall never doubt a man that lives in the wild from now on. They know a lot of practical stuff that I'd would love to know.

**The tent – Jane and Terk**

Terk came running to the tent. She passed by many heartless, but she managed to outrun them all, she was in danger.

When she ran to the tent, she ran towards Jane, causing her to fall. Jane looked at Terk, and Terk tightly hugged Jane. When Jane looked up, her face was filled with horror.

**1st p.o.v – Marie**

"Let's go back to the tent," said Sora. "I got a bad feeling about something."

I nodded, I didn't get any bad feelings, but I trusted Sora's feelings. So we headed back to the base. Of course when we reached there, I noticed Jane wasn't here.

"Hey, where's Jane?" I asked.

"What's wrong, Tarzan?" asked Goofy.

"Something coming. Jane, danger," short and simple was Tarzan's reply. "Jane near... near tree house."

"Sounds like trouble, let's go," announced Donald. And we were off.

I won't bore you with the details of how we got there, but we did climb a lot of vines and stuff. It was pretty cool.

Anyway, we reached the area near the tree house, and we heard Jane's voice, "Tarzan!"

She was trapped behind a little cave with vines and roots covering it. Goofy looked at the big fruit, "the big black fruit looks suspicious."

Goofy, Tarzan and Donald took care of the coming heartless, while Sora and I worked on the fruit in the middle. The fruit was pretty hard, as it took a while for it to crack. But nonetheless, Sora and I managed to get rid of it. We walked over to Jane and Terk.

"Clayton came to the tent, and," Jane was trying hard to remember. That idiot man Clayton, I'm already thinking of ways to knock him out. "That's the last thing I remember."

"Gorillas trapped. Terk ran," said Tarzan.

"We must help the gorillas!" shouted Jane, and we all agreed. Tarzan closed his eyes, and then he opened them.

"We go to cliff. After bamboo thicket," he said. And we were off!

**-x-**

When we reached the cliff, we saw so many gorillas being surrounded by heartless, and even worse, Clayton.

The heartless had disappeared, and Clayton was aiming right at Kala, the gorilla that was treating me like her child. I ran towards him, and started shouting.

"Stop you big idiot!" I started waving my hands so he would pay attention to us and not the gorillas. He did stop, and looked at us. He didn't put down the gun though, which made my raise my guard a bit.

"Clayton?" asked Sora.

"Not Clayton!" shouted Tarzan, he started shouting grunts and hoots. "Not Clayton!"

immediately, a fight ensued. And three monkey heartless stood beside Clayton, I wasn't really up to fighting a man with a shot-up, so I decided to handle one of the heartless. It was pretty quick, Donald was helping me out. And in no time, Clayton quickly fell as well, he is still human after all.

After the fight, he cocked his shot-gun and aimed at us. But he stopped, and started backing up. The wall behind him collapsed, which made me jump a bit. Tarzan grew furious, and started to attack, but he was quickly pushed back. I didn't even see Clayton push him or anything! What the heck is going on!

Clayton rose above the ground, and then a barrier surrounded us. This wasn't normal, and I was starting to feel as if Clayton has been possessed or something. But regardless, he was an enemy, and we had to take him out!

I took my stand, and Sora delivered the first blow. He kept attacking Clayton, and he felt the attacks, but he kept moving so quickly. Tarzan joined in, attacking Clayton as well. Donald and I stood at a distance, and started casting spells. Soon enough, a giant heartless lizard appeared. Sora went to attack it, but he got stunned. It was then that I realized that we have to attack Clayton only, it is he who is possessed.

"Sora! Don't worry about the lizard! Focus on Clayton!" I shouted, and he listened. Sora kept attacking Clayton, dodging a few bullets here and there. If it was me, I would have been dead by that one bullet, I don't know how Sora can dodge bullets that fast.

But Sora managed to defeat Clayton, and soon the lizard disappeared as well.

Oh but, Clayton had no intention of going down that easily. He took out his shot-gun and aimed it directly at us. But the lizard from before appeared, and it looked like it was dying. And I was right, because it fell right on top of Clayton.

Sora and I looked at the lizard. A heart floated out of it's body, and disappeared into the sky, causing the lizard to disappear as well.

We turned around, and all the gorillas appeared. Kerchak stood in front of Sora, and lifted him up and threw him over the cliff! He did the same to Donald and Goofy, and I started to freak out. I don't want to be flown over the cliff!

Kala came up to me, and lifted me on her back. She started to climb the cliff and then dropped me off. Whew, I'm sure glad I wasn't gonna be thrown. I looked at Kala and gave her a really huge and tight hug.

I felt a tear roll down my cheek, she really felt like a mother. Regardless if she's a gorilla.

Kala went back down, and Sora, Donald and Goofy, as well as Tarzan and I looked down at the gorillas. Kerchak looked and acted mean, but we all knew he meant well. He just had to keep his position as the tough leader, but deep down I'm pretty sure he was smiling at us.

As the gorillas left, Tarzan look over to the other side. We turned around as well, as we saw a huge waterfall, it was really breath-taking.

"Tarzan, home," he said. He then pointed to a cave, and we went in.

we had to jump and climb up to the top, and I wasn't really happy about that. But I noticed that my jumping was oddly lasting longer than usual, but then I realized the ability that Phill gave me. Thank you Phill, you've made my jumping easier.

When we entered another area, we saw a light blue ball. Jane and Terk came in afterward. Tarzan began speaking in gorilla, and I Sora understood I think.

"This is your home? But that means," Sora was interrupted when Tarzan brought his hand to his ear, and started to hear things.

"The waterfalls," said Jane. "They're echoing all the way here."

I heard the waterfalls as well, they sounded peaceful.

"Friends there. See friends," said Tarzan.

"Oh, now I've got it," Jane started hooting and grunting like Tarzan did previously. "It means heart."

So all this time, when Tarzan was hooting and grunting, he was saying heart?

"Friends in our hearts," she continued.

"Heart," repeated Tarzan.

"Oh, so that's what it means," said Sora. He looked a little down.

Friends in our hearts...friends...in _my_ heart. Dustin, Stella, they weren't just my siblings, but my friends as well.

I closed my eyes, and I began to think of them. There stood Stella and Dustin, they were waving at me. But something happened, Stella's medium wavy blonde hair was cut short, and turned blue. Her brown eyes also changed to blue, but her skin went a little tanner. Dustin's hair changed from light brown to a bright blonde, and it grew longer. His eyes changed to the colour of red, and his whole face started to age.

I opened my eyes, who were those people? I've never seen them in my life. I sighed, nothing ever seemed to make sense to me anymore, and I felt like giving up trying to remember.

My thought got interrupted as Goofy pulled me into a hug with Donald and Sora.

"Yeah. All for one, huh?" he started laughing, and I was a little confused. Oh well, it probably wasn't anything important.

The little blue ball disappeared, and blue butterflies started appearing. They fluttered near us and they were really pretty. I looked over to the wall, and there revealed a Keyhole.

"Marie," Sora looked at me, and I nodded. I walked up beside him, and we both got our Keyblades out. We pointed them to the keyhole, and they began to glow. A ray of light came out of both of them and they combined together and went into the keyhole. It started to glow, and then we heard a closing noise.

A gummi piece fell towards us, and Donald looked at it.

"A gummi?" he asked.

"But it's sure not the king's," replied Goofy.

Terk came from behind Donald, and started rubbing her chin on him.

"I think someone has a new admirer," said Jane. And I started chuckling, Donald sure picks up the cute ones. Donald started protesting, and started to wave his hands.

"No, no, no, no!" he protested. "Daisy would kill me!"

Sora, Goofy, and I all started laughing loudly by now, Donald was funny when he wasn't being angry. They sure knew how to make a girl forget about her problems.

**Villain's hideout – Disney villains**

"What drew the heartless to that world?" asked Jafar.

"The hunter lured them there," responded Maleficent. "It was his lust for power that was the bait. But it seems the bait was too tasty for his own good."

"Yeah, we got chomped instead," laughed Oogie Boogie.

"A weak-hearted fool like him stood no chance against the heartless," said Jafar. "But both the boy and the girl are a problem. They found one of the keyholes."

"Fear not. It will take them ages to find the rest," said Maleficent. "Besides, they seem blissfully unaware of our other plans."

"Yes, the princesses," responded Jafar. "What about the girl?"

"The princesses are falling into our hands, one by one," said Maleficent. "And the girl is struggling hard to remember what she holds dear."

"_he_ said she knows the future," said Maleficent. "We'll need more than the princesses, and only she knows what we need. We must try out best to help her not forget her 'life', as it is the key to our success."

"Yes, but it seems the more she is with that boy the faster her recovery is," said jafar. "The letters are not enough."

"Yes, it is time to take it to the next level," said Maleficent. She placed a cold and evil smile on her face.

Deep Jungle – Marie

"Well, guess we'd better get going," said Sora.

"Where is your ship, anyway?" asked Jane.

"Well uh..not to far," Donald said. I forgot that I crashed the ship.

"Sora, Tarzan, friends," said Tarzan.

**-x-**

We managed to find the ship, it was near the tree house. We got inside and I was happy to be in my comfortable chair.

"Hey, stop it!" I heard Donald say.

"Oh come on! I'm the Keyblade master," Sora said.

"Hey! What about me-"

I don't care who you are! No!" Donald interrupted me.

"Here we go again.." said Goofy. I sighed, and saw Donald take control of the wheel. We headed towards Traverse Town.

When we reached Traverse Town, I realized we were short on supplies.

"You guys, we're short on supplies," I said. "You guys do what you need to do, and I'll get our supplies."

Sora nodded, although reluctantly. He started walking towards Yuffie, and I headed out to find our supplies. I remembered that I was pretty good with money, and making sure we had enough every time we needed to buy stuff.

I made my way into a nearby shop. I saw an older looking man at the counter, he had blonde hair and goggles and blue eyes. He also had a toothpick in his mouth. He looked familiar.

"You need something?" he asked. I looked around the counter, there was an accessory that seemed perfect for Donald.

"How much is that?" I asked. The man looked at the accessory.

"a hundred munny," he said. That was pretty good, so I gave him the munny.

"Thanks mister..." I trailed off, I didn't know his name.

"Call me Cid," he said.

"I'm Marie!" I raised my hand, which was weird. I felt like I knew Cid, like I've seen him before.

"What've you got there?" he suddenly asked me. I looked at my pocket, and noticed the gummi piece that Donald gave me to look after was sticking out.

"Hey! Well, if it ain't a gummi block," he said.

"Yeah," I said. I looked at the other one I had. "Do you know what this one is for?"

"You're kiddin' me!" he exclaimed. "You're flyin' a gummi ship and you don't know nothin' about navigation gummis?"

"You pinhead. Interspace ain't no playground," he said. I would have gotten really angry at the fact that he called me a pinhead, but I felt like laughing.

"Hey, cut me some slack. I don't know a lot since I came here with my friends," I said. "I don't fly the ship, but we use it to go to other worlds."

I took out my Keyblade, "we have no choice."

He started laughing. And I did too.

"Awh, kid. I didn't know. No hard feelings, all right?" he said. He took the gummis I had, and started looking at them.

"Basically, with navigation gummis, you can go to new places," he said. "You want one on your ship, right?"

"I dunno, it's not my ship after all," I said.

"Who's ship is it?" he asked.

"It's Donald's and Goofy's ship," I said. "I don't know if they want me messing with their ship."

"Aw, it'll be alright. I'll install it for you," he said. "But I got this thing I gotta go deliver first."

"What is it?" I asked. Maybe I could help out.

"Just this book," he said. "It's real old. When the guy brought it in, it was practically falling apart. Too beat up to restore it to the way it was, but overall, I did a decent job puttin' it back together."

"I don't mind delivering it for you," I said.

"Okay," he said. "It's the old house past the third District. Look for a big fire sign."

I felt the floor shake, and heard a bell ring.

"What was that?" I asked, a little surprised.

"Hmm? The bell at the gizmo ship is ringing," he said. "Go check it out if you want, but deliver that book for me first. When you're done, stop by the house in the Third District. I'll be there. Oh and take this."

Cid gave me a stone, "It's a good luck charm that Leon wanted me to give you if I ever met you."

I took it, it looked pretty. I said thank you and goodbye, and left.

**Secret waterway – Sora, Donald, Goofy, Leon and Aerith**

"So, you found the Keyhole," said Leon.

"Yeah," replied Sora. "Our Keyblade locked it automatically."

"Good," said Aerith. She looked around. "Where's Marie?"

"She's buying our supplies," said Sora. "She's not in trouble, don't worry."

"Good," she repeated.

"Every world among the stars has a keyhole," Leon said. "And each one leads to the heart of that world."

"There must be one on this town as well," he continued.

"What do you mean?" Sora asked.

"It was in Ansem's report," stated Aerith.

"The heartless enter through the Keyhole and do something to the world's core," said Leon.

"What happens to the worlds?" asked Sora.

"In the end, it disappears," Aerith said.

"What!" Donald, Sora, and Goofy said in unison.

"That's why both yours and Marie's Key is so important," said Leon.

"Please lock the Keyholes," Aerith said. "You're the only ones who can."

"I don't know," Sora hesitated.

"Seeing other worlds would probably serve you well," said Leon.

Both Donald and Goofy agreed, and said that they would be able to find Riku and Kairi. Sora agreed instantly. They felt the floor shake, and heard a bell.

"Huh, the gizmo bell's ringing," said Aerith. "You guys might want to check it out."

Sora nodded, and he, Donald and Goofy took their time walking there.

**Mystical House – Marie**

Those rocks are a pain in the rear. They moved and I fell in the water so many times. But I managed to make it into the house.

"Oh, that book," said the magician. "So, Cid asked you to bring this. Thank you."

I was about to ask how he knew, but he interrupted me.

"You wish to know what kind of book it is?" he said. "I don't even know, myself. In fact it's not mine. Somehow it found it's way into my bag one day."

"It was such a curious boo, I asked Cid to repair it for me," he said. "Well, I guess I'll put it here somewhere, for now. This book holds a great secret. This missing pages will unlock it."

"I'll leave the book over there. Do look at it whenever you like," he said. "My best regards to Cid for repairing it for me."

"Oh and about that stone," he said. "You should ask the fairy Godmother about that."

Wow, that guy talks **a lot**, I didn't even get a chance to talk in between. But I figured he knew what my questions were going to be, he knew I was coming with the book. So I went over to the fairy godmother.

"Do you what this is?" I asked.

"Oh, the poor thing!" she cried out. "He has turned into a summon gem."

"A what?" I asked.

"This little creature lived in a world that was consumed by darkness," she replied. "When a world vanishes, so do it's inhabitants."

"But this one had such a strong heart, he became a gem instead of vanishing with his world," she finished.

"Can't he come out or something?" I asked.

"Yes, but only his spirit," she said. "Now, watch!"

The fairy godmother started waving her wand saying 'bibbity bobbity boo!' light surrounded the stone.

"Whenever you call, he will help you," she said. "If you find any more of these, bring them to me."

"Don't worry," she assured. "When they're worlds are restored, they will return."

"So please help save them along with Sora," she said.

I'm going to say that every magical person has some kind of way of knowing who a person is, because I didn't know about her nor did I tell her that I was traveling with Sora. But nonetheless, I reassured her I would help them, and then I said thank you.

Then I left for the gizmo shop.

**Gizmo shop – Sora, Donald, and Goofy**

Upon reaching the gizmo Shop, heartless showed up in front of Sora. But they were completely disposed of, and Sora looked up.

Riku was in front of him.

"There you are," he said. "What's going on?"

"Riku!" exclaimed Sora. He went up to Riku and started tugging his face, confirmation that he was actually there and not just his imagination.

"Hey, hey cut it out!" Riku said.

"I'm not dreaming this time, right?" asked Sora.

"I hope not," Riku said, flicking back his bangs. "Took forever to find you."

Riku!" Sora exclaimed happily.

They began walking, and then Sora stopped mid-way.

"Wait a second, where's Kairi?" asked Sora.

"Isn't she with you?" Riku asked in return.

Sora looked down, disappointed at the fact that Kairi wasn't with Riku.

"Well, don't worry," Riku assured. "I'm sure she made it off the island, too."

"We're finally free," he continued. "Hey, she might even be looking for us now."

A shadow appeared behind Riku and Sora. Neither Donald and Goofy saw the shadow either.

"We'll all be together again soon," reassured Riku. "Don't worry."

Riku started smiling, thinking of Sora, Kairi and himself playing on the islands like they used to. "Just leave everything up to me. I know this-"

As soon as Riku could finish however, he heard the noise of a blade, and turned around. He saw Sora slash the shadow.

"Leave it to who?" Sora smirked, placing his Keyblade on his shoulder.

"Sora, what did you-"

"I've been looking for you and Kairi, too," he said. He looked over to Donald and Goofy. "With their help."

"Who are they?" asked Riku, not really happy with the new sudden friends Sora has made.

**Gizmo Shop – Marie**

I walked into the area where the Gismo shop is, and I saw Sora, Donald and Goofy. I also noticed a silver headed kid. Hey, maybe he was going to help us! So I ran over to them.

"Sora! Donald! Goofy!" I shouted. Sora looked towards me and so did Donald and Goofy. I looked at all three of them, and smiled. I looked at the silver headed boy, and strangely enough, he looked familiar.

"Hey, who is he?" I asked. Sora looked at the boy, and then back at me.

"This is Riku, I was looking for him, along with Kairi," he said. I nodded, and I looked towards Riku, he looked kind of distraught. It kind of made me feel sad.

"My name's Marie," I took his hand and shook it. I stopped shaking it, but my hand was still in his. This feeling, it felt so familiar. When I looked at him, he looked sad. He also looked surprised too.

"I don't believe it," he barely whispered. "you're..you're alive."

I let go of his hand, and I gave him a questioned look. This felt a little awkward, since I've never met Riku.

"Ahem. My name is-" Donald tried saying, but he was interrupted.

"We've visited so many places and worlds, looking for you," Sora smiled. Unless he was ignoring it, I don't think he saw that little awkward moment that Riku and I had. I walked to Sora and stood beside him.

"Really? Well, what do you know?" Riku said, he switched his view from me to Sora. "I never would have guessed."

"Oh, and guess what? Sora and Marie are the Keyblade masters," Goofy placed his hands on my shoulder as well as Sora's shoulder.

"Who would've thought Sora would be one," Donald said.

"What's that mean!" Sora started yelling at Donald. I started to chuckle, but then I felt my Keyblade disappear.

"So, these are called Keyblades?" I looked over and Riku held both our Keyblades. I was surprised, and Sora was as well.

"Hey, give those back!" he said. He ran up to Riku and tried to take back both his and my Keyblade. But Riku managed to back away.

"Catch," he said. He threw Sora's Keyblade back to him, and threw mine to me.

"Okay, so, you're coming with is, right?" I smiled at Sora's question. But I don't know why, I don't know Riku, and the fact that he though I was 'dead' made me feel really weird.

"We've got this awesome rocket!" he continued. "Wait till you see it!"

"No, he can't come!" shouted Donald. Sora grew angry.

"What?" he replied.

"Forget it!" Donald retorted.

"Oh come on! He's my friend!" Sora shouted in return.

Friend. Riku was Sora's friend. But why did it feel like he was my friend too? Like I've met him somewhere other than here? I don't understand. I looked over to where Riku was, and he gave me another look, this time though, it was a look of plea. I looked down at the floor.

"He's gone," said Goofy. Sora looked up, and walked to where Riku was.

"Nice going," said Sora. Obviously depressed that Donald wouldn't allow Riku to come along. "Oh,well. At least he's okay."

"And who knows?" he said. "Maybe we'll run into Kairi soon, too."

Oh right, Kairi. The girl that Sora is suppose to like, to be honest, I wasn't really sure why I remembered _that_. That's the last thing I want to remember. Kairi gets saved by prince charming. I go home with nothing.

Such is my life.

Sora started walking ahead, and I followed as well. He was so happy that he got to at least meet his friend, and I was happy for him too. But, when will I meet Dustin or Stella?

We walked to the small house, and there was Leon, Cid, and Aerith.

"Hey guys, you ever hear of Maleficent," asked Cid.

no.

"I hear she's in town," he continued.

Great.

"Who is she?" asked Sora.

"A witch, man," Cid shouted. "She's a witch!" I swear I could hear thunder when he said the word 'witch'. I shuddered.

"She's the reason this town is full of heartless," said Leon, leaning against the wall. "Don't take her lightly.

"She's been using the heartless for years," Aerith added in.

"We lost our world, thanks to her," Leon said.

"One day, a swarm of heartless took over our world!" said Cid.

"That was nine years ago," Leon said.

Nine years ago, what was I doing nine years ago?

"I got out of that mess and cam here with these guys," Cid flicked his toothpick.

"Our ruler was a wise man named Ansem," Leon added. "He dedicated his life to studying the heartless."

"His report should tell is how to get rid of the heartless," said Cid.

"Where's this report?" Sora asked.

"We don't know," Leon said. "It got scattered when our world was destroyed."

"I'm sure Maleficent's got most of the pages," Cid ended.

My head started to hurt, and I started rubbing it. Aerith looked over to me, and she walked over to me and rubbed my back. "Are you alright, Marie?"

Sora looked at me, but I couldn't concentrate. My head was killing me! And the pounding wouldn't stop, I bent down. Sora was kneeling beside me, and kept calling my name.

All I heard was Riku's voice instead.

* * *

Alright, chapter seven is out! Yay!

Thank yous!

Thank-you:  
**Lele-the-Greek-Geek  
The Silver Magician of Chaos  
Ziddy2343  
1st class Solider Girl13**

for placing this story in your favourites! Much love!

Thank-you:  
**Lele-the-Greek-Geek  
Ruciro**

for placing this story in your story alert list! Much love!

Reviews:

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**

Thank you for the compliment! The next chapter will probably confuse, but I'll clear it up in due time.  
And yup, I am Le Hispanic! With a dash of white and a sprinkle of Asian. And thank you for liking my idea of talking with everyone, I like it too!

**Ruciro:**  
Your wish is my command! I hope this chapter is to your liking. XD

**Ziddy2343:**  
Yes, long chapter is long.  
And thank you for your compliment on my details. They add some flavour to the story, no?

**Alexandria Volturi:**

No, I don't like Kairi much. I think it's her personality.

And I feel so honoured that your doing a story dedicated to me c= I have no objections to it, and I'm glad you gave me the option of creating the character. I shall lend my help!

**Name:**  
Ummm... I wish to use my real name Shirley. Mainly because it's really hard to find stories with that name. I'm not being narcissistic or anything, it's just that I'm really fond of that name.

**Age:**  
14, since Sora is 14 in the game.

**Hair color/style:  
**Dark brown hair colour. I love the whole straight bangs idea. And the length should reach her mid back. And it's more wavier as it gets to the bottom

**Eye color:  
**Hazel! =D

**Personality:**  
Well let's see, She should be optimistic, realistic, friendly, and a sense of humour. She should also have a short temper, and unintentionally disrespectful, just do balance out the good. She should be a slow romantic too, not the love dovey type of person. She's not such a girly girl, but neither a pure tom-boy. She likes cute things, but she's not the squee~ type of girl either. Overall she should be a very happy and bright person. So a great smile should come along with that. She can sometimes be very imaptient.

**Weapon:**  
OATHKEEPER!

**likes:**  
She likes Pizza!  
And she also has a fondness for making bracelets and also loves to draw.  
She loves the colour blue, and adores the colour white.  
She obviously likes Sora xD  
She likes playing soccer and likes skateboarding.  
She also likes to play fight too.  
In occasion she likes to dress up nicely.  
She loves wearing headbands.  
Loves to take action.  
Loves to eat. xD

**Dislikes:**  
She doesn't like people lying.  
Doesn't like sitting around and do nothing.  
She doesn't like boring people.  
Doesn't like to wait for long.  
Doesn't like to keep people waiting either.  
Doesn't like the silent treatment.  
Doesn't like to to stay in one place for long.

And I think that's about it, if you need more info just tell me! XD

**ShimmerMist:**

You have caused me nothing xD I usually update during night. I don't know why, but I do.  
And thank you, I love it when I answer reviews, you guys are incredibly interesting.  
And pretty much, Kala just loves to have as many children!

And awesome! I love it how you guys have that name, I feel so happy about it.  
And I went online to actually look up your name and these came up:  
**Kenina**  
**Kenna**  
**Makenna**  
**Mckenna**

Are any of those right?

And yes, I know. Long chapter. I'm thinking of doing it till 5000 words. xD

Thanks for reading guys! Love you lots!


	8. Chapter Eight: Love might be in the air

**Chapter Eight: love might be in the air**

"You see? It's just as I told you," said Maleficent. "While you toiled away trying to find your dear friend, he quite simply replaced you with some new companions. And stole _your_ friend."

Riku and Maleficent stared at the window leading to the house where Sora was in. They see Sora, Donald, and Goofy all talking to each other. In Riku's eyes, they seem to appear having a fun conversation with Sora's hands waving about. But really, they're concerned for Marie.

"Evidently, now he values them far more than he does you," she continued. "He also seems to care more for Marie than you have."

"You're better off without that wretched boy," she said. "But the girl _needs_ you, she is better off with you."

"Now, think no more of him, and come with me," she lowered to his level. "We must find a way to reunite you with your beloved Marie. When we do, you must not talk about your past together. She has forgotten her past, and only remembering it will cause her pain."

Riku stared intently at the window, how could he have have replaced him and Kairi for those two? And even worse, how could he have stolen _his_ friend Marie? His beloved...

**Traverse Town house – Sora, Donald, and Goofy**

Sora looked at Marie, she had suddenly collapsed and wasn't waking up. He blamed himself really, maybe he was pushing her too hard? Maybe he didn't notice her signs of fatigue or something? Whatever it was, he felt awful for not realizing it.

"I think I found out the reason why she collapsed," Aerith was holding Marie's elbow. "she has a pretty bad cut under her elbow."

That's right, when fighting Sabor back in Deep Jungle, Marie had said that she scrapped herself. When Sora came up and looked at the scrap, it wasn't a scrap, it was a full on cut. And a deep one at that.

"Will she be okay?" asked Goofy. Aerith looked at Marie, there were no signs of her dying or anything. She was alright.

"She probably got a headache from the loss of blood," said Aerith. "She'll wake up soon."

Sora sighed, he was relieved that Marie was alright. But something about her bothered him, she was pretty distant recently. Something always seemed to distract her, and even though she always had a smile Sora could tell something was bothering her.

He only hoped it was something he could help with, he didn't like seeing his friends in pain. But that also reminded him, what happened with Riku and Marie? When Marie was introducing herself to Riku Donald kept being loud, Sora couldn't really make out what Riku said. But they're hands were touching for a long time for two people who just met. It bothered Sora a little bit, but he shook his head.

He sat beside Marie, and watched as she slept.

**Destiny islands – Riku**

Riku has spent his time playing with Sora a lot, they were both very competitive with each other. But they were the best of friends, and they both showed it proudly.

One day however, When Riku was five years old. He went walking along cozy street of Destiny islands. He had noticed a young girl playing with a dog, she was a new face. Riku walked in this street everyday, so he knows everyone on it. This girl must have been knew, so he decided to speak with her.

As he walked up, he got a clearer view of her face. Her hair was a light colour of brown, almost blonde, actually it was blonde. A nice sandy colour. She looked up from her current activity, and looked at Riku. He had noticed her eyes, and they were a nice colour of green. He noticed her walking up to him.

"Hi," Riku said. "I'm Riku, did you just move here?"

"Yup," she laughed. "I don't know anyone on this street though. Wanna be my friend?"

The young girl, who looked no older than three, gave Riku her biggest smile. He started laughing out loud, as her smile looked funny with her missing two front teeth.

"Your smile is funny!" he started laughing harder, holding his stomach.

"Hey!" she started laughing when Riku fell to the floor. They had laughed together for about five minutes before they both calmed down.

The little girl took out her hand, and Riku grabbed it. They shook hands.

"I'm Marie," the young girl said.

**Traverse Town house – Marie**

I woke up, and the first thing I saw was Sora sitting on my bed.

"Hey, you're awake," he said. His voice sounding concerned.

"Yeah, my elbow kinda hurts," I rubbed my elbow, and I noticed that it was wrapped up in bandages. "What's up with the bandages?"

"You cut yourself, but you only told me you scrapped it," he said sternly. "Why didn't you tell me you had a big cut?"

Uh-oh, I had completely forgot about my cut. But to be honest, it didn't hurt after a while, so I left it alone. Like I do most things.

"It didn't hurt after we left Deep Jungle, and it only felt like a scrap," I confessed. "I didn't know I was losing blood."

"Oh," he said. "Well, if you ever hurt yourself let us check it out."

I nodded, and I got up from the bed and sat next to him. "So where to now?"

"We found this world's Keyhole, but I need you to help me seal it," he said. He got up and took out his hand, waiting for me to grab it. I did, and he helped me up from the bed.

"Donald and Goofy are already there," he said. I nodded and we left outside.

"Oh yeah, you missed a pretty big fight," he said, as he placed his hands on the back of his head. "I'm actually pretty glad you missed out on it. It was pretty tough."

"Are you saying I can't fight well?" I asked. He looked over to me and waved his hands in protest.

**Third District – Sora**

"Are you saying I can't fight well?" Marie said. And Sora protested by waving his hands. Of course she fought well, but the fight was really hard, even for him. He was busy just dealing with the leg of the heartless, so he had no time to make sure anyone else was okay.

Sora never had friendships with girls, except for Kairi. There was Selphie, but they never hung out with each other alone. And when they did hang out, it was with Tidus and Wakka.

Marie is the second girl that Sora has formed a friendship with. This one was a little different that his friendship with Kairi, he always thought of her as his little sister.

Marie on the other hand, was a girl that Sora really enjoyed being with. They understood each other quite well, they would only have to look at each other to know what the other was thinking. She made him smile a lot, and her bright and cheery self was what made Sora like her even more.

Even when Marie was being sarcastic, that made Sora like her too. She was a genuine person, and a fun one too.

They were really great friends in such a short time, and that also made Sora smile.

**Third District – Marie**

"Why are you smiling?" I asked. Sora looked like he was thinking deeply, but why was he smiling? You usually have a stern face when you think.

"What?" he asked. I sighed, he was out of it.

"Oh, nothing," I said. "Let's get to that Keyhole!"

I started marching down to the fountain, and I heard Sora laugh. I turned around and he started copying me, which made me laugh in return. As he marched beside me, we both started marching towards the fountain. We looked dumb doing it, but hey, we're having fun!

"What are you guys doing?" asked Donald. Who was giving us a weird look.

"We're having fun!" I exclaimed. "And I'm feeling much better, thanks for asking."

"Glad to hear it!" exclaimed Goofy, at least he cares. "We found another Keyhole."

"Oh yeah!" shouted Sora. "Here."

He took out a green orb, and it had a cloud on it. I took it, and it absorbed into my hands. And I felt a strong wind inside me.

"After we fought the heartless he dropped two wind orbs," he said while placing his hands on the back of his head. "It's the aero spell."

"Cool," I said. "That'll come in handy."

I looked at Sora, and he nodded. I also nodded, signaling that we should seal the keyhole. He lifted our swords and pointed it to the keyhole, a light of ray came from both our Keyblades. They combined together and sealed the door.

"Alright that's done, now what?" I asked.

"We go to the next world," Donald said. "On the ship that you decided to customize."

Donald looked at me with such a stern face, I thought Cid had my back! That no-good gummi-ship-customization-guy!

"Now, Donald," said Goofy. "We can go to other worlds thanks to Marie."

Goofy patted Donald's back, and he sighed. Thank you Goofy!

"Aw, just don't do it again without asking us," he said. "Good job, but don't do it again."

I nodded, I wouldn't do it again I promised.I dug my hands into my pocket, and I felt something circular. I took it out and I noticed that it was the summon stone. I saw Sora's hand grabbing it and he started looking at it.

"So... this is the summon stone?" Sora asked. How did he know?

"How did you know?" I asked.

"Cid told us what you did while we were gone," he said, giving me back the stone. "Next time we come here, we'll visit that book together."

I nodded, well thank you Cid for filling them in. You did good. We walked to the ship, and along the way Sora told me that Cid started doing his 'real' job. I asked him what it was, and he said it was repairing and selling gummi pieces.

It was then that I realized that I remembered Cid physically telling me that when I was younger. But how was that possible? I never knew Cid when I was younger. But then again, I never really knew much about my childhood. Before the age of six was all a blur, and I couldn't understand why.

"Oh yeah, here," Sora handed me a letter. "I accidentally read it, I thought it was for."

"That's alright," I said. I didn't mind, Sora was my friend and I trusted him. I took the letter from his hand, and I looked at it. I was a little hesitant to read it, but I had to.

Marie,

Stella and I love you so much, no matter what. Whatever happens, please don't forget us.  
Dustin

I wasn't happy to see this letter one bit, instead, frustration filled my heart. I wasn't understanding anything, I couldn't understand anything. These letters, Riku, the familiar feelings I get when I meet someone I've never met in my life! They're all too much, and it's really annoying. I think it was time...time to get to the bottom of this.

"Stella and Dustin seem to be looking for you too," I heard Sora said. "Just like how I'm looking for Kairi and Riku."

"Well I care a lot for them," I said, although I didn't sound to happy. I think Sora noticed this, as he had a concerned look on his face. I didn't bother with an excuse or a smile, I wasn't in the mood. So I kept walking to the ship.

**Gummi ship – Sora**

"Agrabah is our next destination," Sora looked at Marie, and was expecting an 'aye captain' or a smile. But when he had noticed that she was frowning and gloomy looking, he couldn't help but feel the same. He didn't like it when Marie was like this, which unfortunately seemed to happen when she received letters from her older siblings.

This ship ran on happy faces, and he was determined to make Marie feel happy all the time. Friends don't let friends be sad.

The ship landed on Agrabah, and everyone was leaving. Marie was the last one to leave, and Sora noticed. He waited for Marie, and when she looked at him, he smiled at her. She smiled back, although it was a weak smile. He was making good progress so far.

**Agrabah – Maleficent and Jafar**

"And the Keyhole?" asked Maleficent.

"The heartless are searching for it now," replied Jafar. "I'm certain we'll find it soon enough. So that just leaves..."

A parrot came floating in from the sky, and gracefully landed on Jarfar's shoulder, "Jafar! I've looked everywhere for Jasmine. She's disappeared like magic!"

"The girl is more trouble than she's worth," Jafar scoffed.

"You said you had things under control," stated Maleficent.

"Agrabah is full of holes for rats to hide in," said Jafar. "But why worry about Princess Jasmine? With her or without her, surely this world will be ours when we find the keyhole."

Jafar looked at Maleficent, and only waits for her to speak. Maleficent looks down at the floor and thinks for a moment.

"We need all seven princesses of heart and that girl to open the final door," she said. "Any fewer is useless."

"Well, if the princess is that important," said Jafar. "We'll find her."

"Find Jasmine and bring her to me at once, Iago" Jafar ordered the parrot, along with some heartless.

"Don't forget," said Maleficent. "We need the girl, remind her that she is not from here."

Jafar scoffed, and started to walk.

"Don't steep yourself in darkness too long," reminded Maleficent. "The heartless consume the careless."

Jafar stopped midway, and began to cackle, "Your concern is touching, but hardly necessary."

Behind a stall, hid princess Jasmine. She had heard everything they were talking about, and she needed to protect herself.

**Agrabah – Marie**

I was feeling a little better now that we begun our search in Agrabah, and also because Sora kept smiling and trying to cheer me up. If he was trying to do it subtly, he was doing a bad job of it. But it still made me happy that he cared.

Well anyway, we made it into the alleyway of Agrabah, and I noticed something green behind some boxes.

"Who's there? Hello?" a lady was talking from the boxes. She came out and looked at all of us. "I'm Jasmine. My father is the sultan of Agrabah."

"Uh...so that makes you a princess," said Goofy.

"But he has been deposed by Jafar, who now controls the city," she looked down and had a look of sadness on her face.

"Jafar?" I asked. "Who is he?"

"You haven't heard of him?" she said. "He's the royal vizier. He's gained evil powers and seized Agrabah."

"He's desperately looking for something—something he called the 'Keyhole'," he said. "Jafar caught me trying to escape, but he helped me."

"Who helped you?" asked Sora.

"We were hiding nearby," she looked at some random direction. "But he left a while ago to take care of something. Oh, I hope Aladdin's all right."

"Aladdin?" we heard someone say. "Where might I find this street rat?"

We looked up to see a man with a funny beard, and a snake staff. He had pointy shoulders, but I'm guessing that was because of his outfit.

"Jasmine, allow me to find you more suitable company," he said. "My dear princess."

"These three little rats won't do, you see," he said. Wait he said three, was he excluding me! How rude!

"Jasmine, run!" whispered Sora. I took out my Keyblade, and so did Sora. We stood side by side and glared at the man.

"Ah, the boy who holds the key," he said. "And the girl who holds the future."

I looked at him, confused. What did he just mean?

Heartless appeared beside him, and he looked at me, "You girl, do not belong here in this world, nor in any other worlds."

I was about to run after him and ask him what he meant, but the heartless jumped down and started attacking. Fine, you wanna be like that? Then I'll knock you down.

I started attacking one of the heartless, it was a thief looking heartless. I slashed at it, and it bent down to recover. I didn't even give it time to get up as I attacked it again, making it disappear. My patience was getting thin, I needed answers!

I noticed that all the heartless were gone, and my anger slowly started to calm. That man was most likely Jafar, I know it. Heartless are evil, Jasmine said Jafar has evil powers, perfect match.

"Let's go search for Jasmine," I suggested. We all went walking out to the main street, and we came across a pole. I looked up and it lead to somewhere, so I looked over at Sora and he nodded, which meant I could climb it.

When I climbed up I saw a carpet trapped by a barrel, and oddly enough, the carpet was moving. Sora climbed up and noticed this as well, so he went up to it and moved the barrel. It floated and started moving around, and then it zoomed out of the room and into the desert.

"The carpet flew off toward the desert," said Donald. "Let's follow it!"

We walked out of the room and found ourselves in the plaza, which was basically the entrance to the desert. We walked out to the desert and...

….A whole lot of sand appeared. Great. If we're going to have to walk this, I'm gonna throw a tantrum.

"Aw, man," Sora placed his hand on the back of his head. "Do we have to walk this?"

"If the King is there then we do," Donald said Sternly.

Just then, the carpet that was trapped appeared in front of us. He started moving and flying around us, I'm guessing he wants to take us to wherever we need to go?

"It wants us to come along?" asked Sora. Donald and Goofy both agreed to riding the carpet. Sora also agreed, they all stared at me after. I guess I don't have any objections.

"All aboard!" I exclaimed.

Goofy and Donald made their way on the back of the carpet, and then Sora sat in the front. There was _barely_ enough room with just the three of them, so I didn't know how I was gonna fit, and I sure as hell ain't walking.

"Jump on, Marie," Sora said. And I gave him a doubtful look.

"I don't think I'll fit," I said. Sora started laughing. I highly don't find anything funny about this.

"Don't worry," he gave me a reassuring smile. "I won't let you fall."

He extended his hand to me, and I grabbed it. I hopped on the carpet, and as I suspected, there was barely enough room for me. I almost felt myself fall until Sora wrapped his arms around me.

"I told you I wouldn't let you fall," he smiled at me. I smiled back, and I piled my hands on his, gripping them so I wouldn't let go. I was sitting in front on Sora, while he was practically hugging me. It felt nice, I felt warm and fuzzy.

We arrived at a secluded area, and it was dark. And filled with sand. No duh, it is a desert.

Anyway, we jumped off the carpet and made our way a little further into the area. Heartless appeared throughout the area, and it was up to us to deal with it. These heartless were a little trickier than the ones we fought before, but they're heartless in the forms of thieves. And thieves are pretty quick on their feet.

What drove me insane was the fact that more kept appearing from the sand, conniving little...

"I think that's the last of them," I heard Sora say. I looked around and saw that there weren't any heartless, about time. I walked over to the sand, and I saw an older looking guy who was tanned and had a purple vest on.

"Gawrsh, not again!" I heard Goofy yell. Sora and I looked at the surrounding heartless.

"Genie, get rid of these guys!" I heard someone say.

When I turned around, I saw something come out of the lamp that the purple vest wearing guy had in his hand. A huge blue genie popped out of it.

"Wish number one, coming right up!" the Genie said. With a snap of his fingers, he made all of the heartless disappear instantly.

**Destiny Islands – Riku and Marie**

Riku never really anticipated Marie to be such a cool girl. Most girls, especially Selphie, on the island tended to be the really sweet and innocent type of girls who _never_ get in trouble.

Marie wasn't like that though. Whenever Riku and Marie hung out with each other, they always ended up doing something mischievous, like pulling a prank on Tidus. Or stealing Wakka's balls. And that boy had _a lot_ of balls.**[1]**

They even did the classical, dip-a-girl's-braids-in-ink, prank. Poor Selphie had to cut her hair short after that.**[2]**

But today was a special day for both Marie and Riku.

It was four months after Marie had moved to Cozy street, and today was her birthday, she was turning four.

And on this special day, Riku thought of an amazing plan. He wanted to introduce Marie to his other best friend, Sora. He never told Sora about Marie, because he knew he would immediately try to find her and befriend her. Riku didn't really want Sora and Marie to be super close friends, because he and Marie were already super close friends, and he didn't want anyone else stealing that title. So he wanted to introduce them both so they all could be friends, and watch close if Sora got too close to Marie.

Riku was waiting for Marie, she was doing something and she told him to wait at the islands where they always hang out.

It wasn't too long after that she arrived. She came running down to him, and had a big smile on her face. She had a nice yellow sundress on, with a 'happy birthday' button on it. and her hair was down.

"Riku! Riku! Go check out the secret cave!" she exclaimed. "I carved something you have to finish!"

"I'll check it out later," he said, smiling at her. He had smelt a sweet flowery smell from Marie. "I want you to meet my friend. He's waiting at the main island dock."

Marie and Riku went back to the main islands, but Sora wasn't there. Marie was confused, and Riku grew a little annoyed. Luckily, Tidus was near.

"Tidus, where's Sora?" asked Riku.

"uuuhhh, he's chasing a butterfly," he said.

Riku face palmed, and Marie started laughing. Sora was going to get an earful when Riku finds him that's for sure. Riku wanted this day to be special, but Sora had to go and ruin it. Riku sighed, and told Marie she was going to have to meet Sora the next day. She hadn't spent time with her family, so Riku didn't want to keep her away from them. They said there farewells and left.

However, today would be the last day that Riku would ever see Marie again.

When Marie was walking down the street, she saw an old man. They bumped into each other and he dropped a jewel-like stone., she picked it up.

"Here you go mister," she said, handing the jewel-stone to him. "you dropped this."

The old man didn't say anything, he merely looked at the girl in awe. He came to the islands to dispose of some...unwanted light. He had an evil smile, a plan came to his mind. And Marie was perfect for it.

"My, it's your birthday today?" he pretended to be interested. "Oh, so _you're_ the birthday girl!"

Marie smiled, "yup, that's me!"

"Your mother had sent me to give you a present," he said. "But it's really big, so you'll have to follow me."

Marie smiled and nodded, she had never gotten a big present before. This old man, who she thought was nice, must have had a ginormous present for her.

That was the last time anyone ever saw her.

**Desert – Marie **

"I see," confirmed Aladdin. "thanks, guys."

"Aladdin, what're you doing out here?" asked Sora.

"Same old stuff," he laughed. "Hunting legendary treasure."

"Just paid a visit to the Cave of Wonders," he continued. "I found that magic carpet."

"And this lamp," he took out the lamp that the blue genie came out of. "Legend has it that whoever holds the lamp can summon the-"

"Please, kid, leave the intros to the professional. The one. The only. GENIE OF THE LAMP!"

I staggered a bit when the Genie came jumping out, his voice was so loud, it could get someone off guard.

"Run-a-dub-dub the lamp and have your dearest wishes granted," he said. He made confetti pour on top of Aladdin's head. "Today's winner is...Aladdin! Congratulations!"

Donald looked and smiled at the Genie, "Any wish?"

"Patience, my fine, feathered friend!" the Genie popped into Donald's view, which spooked him a bit. "Any three wishes! A one wish, a two, wish, a three wish. Then I make like a banan and split!"

"Our lucky winner made his first wish-" he stopped and whispered to Sora and I. "and let me tell you, what a doozy that wish was-"

"So he was two left!" he danced around all of us. "So, master, what'll you have for wish number two?"

A spotlight appeared on Aladdin, and he thought for a moment. "Hmm, how about making me a fabulously wealthy prince?"

"Oooh! Money! Royalty! Fame!" shouted the Genie a little too happily. "Why didn't I think of that?"

"Okay, you asked for it!" he shouted again. "A hundred servants and a hundred camels loaded with gold!"

"Just say the word and I'll deliver it on 30 minutes or less!" he shouted yet again. "Or your meal's free."

"Hey, I'll even throw in a cappuccino!" he said. Hopefully it would be the last, he talks way too much.

"No, thanks," said Aladdin.

"Okay," the Genie said.

"I think I'll put that on hold until we reach Agrabah," Aladdin said.

"Uuh, why a prince?" asked Goofy.

"You see, there's this girl in Agrabah named Jasmine," Aladdin continued. "But she's a princess, and I'm... Aw, she could never fall for a guy like me."

Aw, poor Aladdin. Jasmine seemed nice when we met her, I don't see her acting like the snobbish type of princess. I'm really hoping Aladdin would be together with her. But then I realized, Jasmine...

"Oh, princess?" asked Donald.

"Jasmine?" asked Goofy.

"She's in trouble!" I shouted, realizing that Jafar is trying to kidnap her.

"What?" he blinked. "Well, c'mon, let's get going!"

The magic carpet came beside us, and it started dancing. It wanted us to ride it. Yeah, right. There's no room for all five of us! Something had to be done.

"You guys," I said. "there's no room for all five of us."

Sora and Aladdin looked at the carpet. I saw Sora looking at me, and he kinda looked worried. And Aladdin looked at Sora. A smile appeared on Aladdin's face, and he called Sora over and they huddle together and spoke.

**Awesome Plan – Sora and Aladdin**

"I don't want to separate us," Sora was worried that either Donald, Goofy or worse, Marie would have to wait while he and Aladdin brought the rest back to Agrabah. And it wasn't like how it was before, because now there was Aladdin.

"I got an idea," Aladdin smirked. "Donald and Goofy will sit in the back. I'll lead, and Marie will sit on your lap."

"What!" Sora exclaimed, and he started to blush. "Are you sure there's no other way?"

"Trust me," Aladdin said. "Just trust me."

Sora looked worried. Of course, _He_ liked the idea, but he didn't know about Marie. She was a strong person, and also independent, as she displayed it in some events. This might bother her, or worse, she might even beat Sora for going along.

He would have to hope.

**-x-**

"Alright!" exclaimed Aladdin. He started instructing Goofy and Donald to squeeze their way into the back, and then he started telling Sora to sit in the middle. Aladdin then told me to sit on Sora's lap.

"..Uuh, aren't I a little too young to sit like that?" I asked, finding a way to avoid sitting like that. When I looked at Sora, I noticed a small, _very_ small tint of pink on his cheeks. I sighed, I might as well get this over with.

I got on the carpet, and I sat down. Sora smiled at me, and he wrapped his arms around me.

…...Somehow I get the feeling this was planned.

"Ah, fresh air!" said Genie, we were heading back to Agrabah and Genie came along. "The great outdoors!"

"I guess you don't get out much, huh?" I asked.

"Comes with the job," Genie replied. "Phenomenal cosmic powers. Itty-bitty living space. It's always three wishes, then back to my portable prison."

"I'm lucky to see the light of day every century or two," he continued. I felt bad for Genie, it must suck being stuck in one place and not having anywhere else to go. Like me for example, my leg was falling asleep, and I get feeling _slightly_ awkward. Though really I felt like smiling.

"Say, Genie," asked Aladdin. "What if I use my last wish to free you from the lamp?"

"What do you think?" he asked again.

Genie's face lit up, he looked so happy. "you'd do that?"

"Genie, it's a promise," Aladdin said. "After we help jasmine."

We made it all the way to the entrance of Agrabah. Donald and Goofy jumped off, and so did Aladdin. I noticed Sora still had his arms around me, and honestly, I didn't mind.

"Hey, hurry up!" shouted Donald.

I blushed, and Sora let go of me. I got off the carpet and he did as well.

"thanks, Sora," I said. I decided to do my part. So I gave him a hug. "Let's go save jasmine, partner!"

Sora nodded, and we both left to help Jasmine.

* * *

Sora is starting to like Marie before she does. And also, hurray for flashbacks! Maybe they might un-confuse you all. I find Agrabah a _very_ fitting place to make Sora and Marie's little relationship start to bloom.

And have you noticed that I didn't describe Marie's outfit? I let you readers make up what she reads. I'm still thinking of what she should be for when she goes to Halloween town, if my creativity doesn't allow me to make up an outfit, meh, I'll let you guys make up your own outfit.

Also, I'm looking for a C2 where I can put this story in, but I spent half the day looking for an appropriate one. I found a lot of yaoi C2s, and I don't mind Yaoi or yuri, but I don't really have the whole time to look for one. So, if you guys just happen to see one [i'm not forcing you! XD] let me know! I'd be so grateful!

**[1]**  
Come on, Wakka **_DOES_** have a lot of balls. Stop thinking like that~ xD

**[2]**  
Now you know the _**REAL**_ reason why Selphie has that hairstyle she has now! Muahahahaha~

Thank you:  
**KillerKunoichi94  
Ruciro  
XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX**

For putting this story in your favourites! Much love!

Thank you:  
**XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX**

for placing this story in your story alert list! Love joooo!

Now for reviews:

**KillerKunoichi94 :**  
Thank you so much for liking this story! And do not worry! You will see this and more!

**Ruciro:**  
Hopefully this will clear up some things. _- And I shall write and write and write and write and write until my hands fall off!

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Awesome! So it's going to be an OcxSora and OcxRiku story? I can't wait! Your character is sort of the exact opposite of mine, and I'm liking that so far. I can't wait to read it! You must inform me when you publish it! I shall be the first to review!

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
Yes! Cyber cookie! -om nom nom nom-

And this chapter is your answer! Oh but I do wonder, why doesn't Marie know about this? Only time will tell. -evil cackle-

**sajere1:**  
Who knows? Maybe, maybe not? And I shall tell you my friend, Dustin and Stella are more than what meets the eye, or are they? -does another evil cackle-

**XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX:**  
My oh my, I've answered your prayers! There will be gradual scenes of slight romance coming up. And now you know how Riku and Marie know each other. But again, why doesn't Marie know? Tee-hee, you have to keep reading to know~ I will update frequently.

**Ziddy2343:**  
Another chapter for you my friend! And yes, there is a mysterious air about Marie that even she is aware of. Hopefully, she finds all the answers, she is going to be very serious about this now.

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. I will start working on the next one right away!


	9. Chapter Nine: Pastimes and Futures

**Chapter Nine: Pastimes and futures.**

We managed to make it all the way to the entrance of the palace, we fought some heartless, but it was nothing we couldn't handle. We were on the roof of a building, and we saw Jafar and Jasmine. So we jumped down.

"Setting your sights a little high, aren't you?" Jafar turned around and faced us. "Back to your hole, street rat. I will not allow you to trouble the princess any more."

"Jasmine!" yelled Aladdin.

"I'm so sorry, Aladdin," pleaded Jasmine, she tried approaching us, but Jafar placed his hand in front of her.

"Genie, help jasmine," I saw Aladdin rubbing his lamp. "Please!"

I saw Genie picking up Jasmine, and Jafar turned around. "One wish left! You're making this really easy, you know."

"So sorry, boy," Jafar smirked. "I'm afraid your second wish has been denied."

I saw a parrot holding Aladdin's lamp, he was bringing it to Jafar. I looked over Aladdin, and he looked beyond surprised. The bird gave Jafar the lamp, and Genie looked sorry.

"I'm sorry, Al," he said. Genie disappeared and Jasmine fell inside a pot, which turned into a heartless.

"And now," Jafar said. "I bid you all farewell. Attack!"

He ordered the pot to attack us, and I felt my blood boiling. I wasn't going to let Jafar get away.

"Oh hell no!" I yelled. "I'm not letting you get away!"

I ran past the pot monster, and I attacked Jafar. It seems he had a barrier, as my Keyblade deflected him, and it fell to the floor beside me. He was gripping my wrist so tightly, it was starting to burn.

"Girl," he snarled. "You do not _belong_ in this world. You belong somewhere else. Stop acting like you belong here, and start realizing the truth."

"The truth?" I asked. His grip was so tight, it was cutting off the blood circulation to my hand. "What do you mean by the truth!"

"This is not your reality," he barked. "Remember what you forgot."

I kept staring at him, his eyes filled with pure evil and a lust for power. The pain on my wrist from his grip burned intensely, and I was starting to remember things. Except, I was remembering things that I didn't know I had lying in my mind.

**Agrabah – Sora**

Sora prepared himself for the fight to save Jasmine, but something else caught his mind.

Jafar was hurting Marie.

Sora grew angry, and ran up to them, but a pot monster blocked his view. As he fought the monster, he also kept his view on Marie and Jafar. He saw that Marie looked distraught, and Jafar was saying something to her. He attacked the heartless and looked back at Marie, she was trying to release from his grip, and he kept saying something to her.

What he saw next made him stagger in concern.

Jafar disappeared, and Marie instantly fell to the floor. She wasn't getting up.

"**MARIE!**" he called out. A pot monster headed straight for Sora, and his anger killed off the heartless in a heartbeat. Aladdin was the last to finish off the other heartless. Sora ran to Marie, he crouched down beside her and held her up. He kept shaking her so she would wake up.

**The past – Marie's subconscious**

I was standing in the middle of nothing. It was complete light all around.

I looked around, and then started walking around. But all I saw was light.

I stopped however, and I saw two little children in front of me. One looked oddly familiar to that Riku boy that I met in Traverse Town, but the other, the little girl. She caught my attention.

"I'm Marie!" the little girl said. My eyes grew wide, was that me?

"I'm Riku," the boy said. Riku and...Marie shook hands. Scenes passed by me, and they were all filled with moments I was having with Riku. I began to think that maybe, I was friends with Riku when I was younger.

I couldn't remember anything when I was six and younger, so maybe this was it. Riku made it clear that he knew me, as he said I was 'alive'. But how was this possible? They're all video game characters from ...well, I can't remember the name of the game, but they're video game characters. But again, how was I able to _feel_ like I knew Cid? Not just physically, but mentally, like I knew him way before the game.

It was then that I began to slowly realize.

Was I already _in_ reality? Was what I considered a dream, real? I needed to investigate further.

I looked over to where Riku and I were at, and they started to disappear. Riku was looking at me, and he had a concerned look on his face.

"Marie!" said Riku.

I kept looking at him, and his face got closer to mine.

"Marie!"

His silver hair started flaring up, and the shape of his eyes were changing. The colour of his hair started changing to brown, and the colour of his eyes changed from turquoise to the colour of blue.

"**MARIE!**"

**Present – Marie**

I slowly opened my eyes, and what previously was Riku turned into Sora.

"Sora...," I barely said. "What happened?"

I got up, and looked around. The pot monsters were gone, and...we were in the desert?

Oh crap!

"Where's Jasmine!" I exclaimed. "And how did we get here?"

"She's gone," said Aladdin. "Sora carried you on the carpet, and we came after."

"Oh," I said. "Thanks Sora!"

I lifted my hand, expecting a high five in return, but Sora looked so sad and concerned.

"I'm sorry," he said. "Every time something happens to you I can't help. I feel so bad."

I got up, and patted off the sand. I looked at him, and I looked hard. Sora had a sincere look of guilt on his face, but he shouldn't have. To know that he feels so guilty about me slipping into trance-like thoughts, or falling unconscious made my stomach flutter. He cares about me, truly and deeply. Whether or not it was a, I-love-you-as-a-girlfriend type of love, or a, I-love-you-as-a-friend didn't matter I guess. He cares, and it made me feel wanted.

"Sora!" I playfully punched his arm, and then I hugged him. "Don't feel bad! Not everyone can help each other, so don't worry."

Sora hugged me back and for a moment, everything seemed right. I wanted to stay like this, and forget everything that I was experiencing. But I couldn't.

I let go of the hug, and I smiled at him. "Let's save jasmine. That's something we _both_ can help with."

Sora smiled, and he started ruffling my hair. I stuck out my tongue at him, and he started to laugh.

"Hey!" Donald shouted. "You can be lovebirds _after_ we save Jasmine, so let's go save her!"

I blushed, but he was right. We looked over to the middle, and Sora walked a little ahead. The ground started shaking, and a huge cat-like stone thingie came popping out. It opened it's mouth, and an entrance appeared. That's where Jasmine must be!

"Let's go," Sora looked over to me and I nodded. We headed into the Cave of Wonders.

The entrance looked pretty wicked, but inside was even better looking. There was a lot of torches and pillars, and it looked really cool. Of course, heartless were laying around, and we had to pass through them to get to jasmine.

Oh what a joy.

**Flashback  
Destiny Islands – Marie**

Marie drew a picture of herself in the 'secret area' that Riku showed her when he was touring the island he and his friend play on. This was on the day of her kidnapping.

Marie was never really much of a drawer, but this drawing that she drew had to be perfect, it was a present for Riku. Because he was the greatest friend she has ever had.

Her drawing consisted of her face, and a little hand with a Paopu fruit in it. The hand was reaching out to the space on her right. Of course, it came out looking like a star than the actual fruit. The fruit had little leaves coming from the tips, but she couldn't draw very well, so this had to do.

She also never really understood the meaning behind the Paopu fruit. People only told her that if two people share it, they'll be together forever. And Marie wanted to be friends with Riku forever and ever. She was going to get a Paopu fruit after this drawing and share it with Riku, but that never happened. She told Riku he had to finish the drawing. But he never did.

He didn't do anything for at least a month. When he heard that Marie went missing, he was so distraught about losing his friend. Sure, Sora was best friends with Riku, but he and Marie had a special brother-sister bond. None of them had any siblings, so they eventually dubbed themselves brother and sister.

He didn't go to the islands for that month either, thus forgetting about what Marie wanted him to finish off.

Sora, on the other hand, wasn't going to let a sad Riku destroy his fun. He went to the islands and played with Tidus and Wakka. It wasn't the same as playing with Riku, but it was better than just sitting around and doing nothing.

One day during that month, Wakka had kicked the ball too hard, and it managed to find it's way into the 'secret area'. Sora groaned, as it was his turn to get the ball. He walked all the way there, and grabbed the ball. But before leaving, Sora noticed something on the wall, so he went further in.

"Whoa, what's this?" he asked out loud. He touched the drawing, and noticed it was a drawing of someone with a star in their hand. He noticed that the hand was reaching out to something, and when he looked over, nothing was there. Sora looked sad, as the picture looked lonely. He then thought of a great idea, the picture needed someone.

Sora drew himself beside the other drawing, and then drew his hand. He certainly did feel the loneliness that this picture was sending out, which was a little weird. So he decided to draw a Paopu fruit in his hand, that way, the picture wouldn't be lonely since Sora would always be with it.

He knew that Paopu fruits should only be shared with people you want to be forever, but it was just a picture. No harm done, right?

"Eh, Sora! Hurry up, ya?" shouted Wakka.

"I'm coming!" Sora smiled as the picture was finished. He was on the right side, giving the other drawing, who was on the left side, a Paopu fruit.

He was sure that this drawing would never be lonely again.

**Cave of Wonders – Jafar**

"My first wish, Genie!" shouted Jafar, who had Genie and Princess Jasmine in his capture. "Show me the Keyhole!"

Genie reluctantly snapped his fingers, glaring at the evil, cold-hearted man. A wall broke down in front of Jafar, revealing Agrabah's Keyhole. Jafar stared, and cackled evilly.

**Cave of Wonders – Marie**

I take back what I said.

This place is **NOT** wicked at all! We kept going down and down and down, I felt like we would never reach Jasmine. Not to mention we had to switch back from swimming and then running and then jumping off gold.

And _THEN_ we had to find a switch for a door so we could reach the room containing the lamp. Aladdin said that's where Jafar is most likely. I wonder how he even managed to get there without having to take the time to solve all these puzzles?

But then again, Jafar is evil. Evil equals random power to open up anything I suppose.

Bah, enough rambling. Anyway, we managed to find the switch, we just needed to head back to the treasure room.

**Lamp Room – Jafar and Maleficent**

"Them again?" Maleficent asked.

"They're more persistent than I expected," replied Jafar. "I've noticed that the girl and boy seem to appear more 'friendly' towards each other."

Jafar smirked evilly. "Why not explain the situation to that boy, Riku? Doing so may actually prove useful to our-"

**Lamp Room – Marie**

We ran into the room, and we saw Jafar talking with that witch that Cid was talking about before I passed out. She was also the witch who gave me those powers, back then I didn't know her name, but now I do, and it's Maleficent.

"Wait a second," Sora thought. "Are you Maleficent?"

I looked over to Maleficent, I saw her staring at me. I was about to say something but she disappeared.

"Jafar!" I heard Aladdin shout. "Let Jasmine go!"

"Not a chance," Jafar replied. "You see, she's a princess-"

"One of seven who somehow hold the key to opening the door," he continued, he looked over to me, and I raised my guard. "You know it more better than I do, girl. You know everything about it."

"What..?" I asked. How do I know anything about _that_ when I can't even remember where I'm from anymore.

"Open.." Goofy said, he looked over at me.

"The door?" Donald also looked at me.

"But you other fools won't live to see what lies beyond," he smirked. "The girl will come with me."

Genie appeared behind Jafar, "Genie, my second wish."

"Crush the boys, but do not harm the girl!" he ordered.

"Genie, no!" yelled Aladdin. What's going on?

"Sorry, Al," pleaded Genie. "The one with the lamp calls the shots. I don't have a choice."

I looked over and saw Jafar hit his staff on the floor, a barrier appeared on the door that we came through, and another in front of the Keyhole. Genie snapped his fingers, and all of a sudden I felt myself being carried over to Jafar.

I was tied up and sitting in front of the Keyhole. I looked forward and saw Sora looking at me, again he was concerned. So I took it to myself to cheer him on.

"Sora, don't worry," I reassured. "Just focus on Jafar, I'll find a way out of this."

He nodded, and began fighting Jafar, Genie was trying to resist hitting any of them. I was trying to untie myself, but these ropes were pretty tight. They felt like Jafar's grip. When I looked over, Sora was having trouble hitting Jafar, and I wanted to help so badly. But in my current state I couldn't do anything, until a thought hit me.

I'll cast spells, that's something I could do from where I was. I concentrated my spell, and I focused my target on Jafar. It was a little hard to do so, because he turned into a ball of mist and circled the room. But I managed to get it.

"Thunder!" I shouted, and bolts of lightning hit Jafar. He staggered a bit, and Sora looked over to me and mouthed a thank-you. With Jafar being staggered, Sora and Aladdin were able to attack in no time, and soon defeated him.

Jafar looked like he was burning from the shocks and cuts he received from Sora and Aladdin. A blue orb appeared on my lap, and absorbed itself into me. It was the power of ice, except it was upgraded.

Jasmine suddenly appeared beside me, thank god. She's okay, she's alive. Sora and Aladdin started running towards us, I smiled at Sora so widely. He was becoming my hero, as cliché as that sounds. But I don't care, I just wanted out of these ropes, they were burning.

"Sora," I called out. He smiled back at me, and ran closer. However, he stopped as we heard Jafar's voice.

"Genie! My final wish!" he was floating in the air, with Genie's lamp. "I want you to make me an all-powerful genie!"

Genie covered his eyes, and reluctantly pointed his finger at Jafar. The ground started to shake, and it collapsed. I saw Jafar heading down to the ground, as he was glowing in the hues of red and orange. Sora looked back at Jasmine and I, and came running towards us.

"Marie, are you okay?" he asked.

"These ropes burn a lot," I said while tugging on the ropes. "But I'm alright."

Sora walked behind me, and started untying the ropes. However they proved useless as they were too tight for Sora to untie. Aladdin came in and checked them out.

"I think Genie can only untie these ropes," he confirmed. "He was the one who tied them after all."

"I'll be fine here, what about Jasmine?" I asked.

"I think she only passed out," he said. "But we gotta go after Jafar first."

"No!" shouted Sora. "I'm not leaving Marie here."

"Sora," I said. "I'm fine. Go kick evil Genie Jafar butt!"

"I'll still be here," I smiled at him. "So don't worry."

Sora gave a weak smile, I knew he was still worried. But I wasn't going to let him, so I smiled even wider. He nodded, and told me to keep watch on Jasmine. I nodded and watched as Sora, Donald, Goofy and Aladdin went after the evil Genie Jafar.

"Well Jasmine," I sighed. "Let's hope our boys do good."

Of course, I don't mean to say that Sora is _my_ boy. Although, maybe things could be like that. I don' know, I just want to figure things out. Like that dream I had.

I started to feel drowsy, and then I felt heavy.

It wouldn't hurt to take a nap, right?

**Flashback – Marie**

Marie had ended up in a place far away from her home, and she was scared. The only person she had to rely on, was the man that kidnapped her.

When she ended up in the world called 'Radiant Garden', the man had business to do, and that she had to come along, much to her displeasure.

"Braig," the man called. "Have you any news for me?"

Braig, as the man called him, was a man dressed in black who had sleeked back black hair. He wore a red scarf, and white gloves. Marie grew a little weary about him, but when she saw the man and Braig were in deep conversation, she took to herself to walk around. And maybe get away from the evil man.

Upon walking around, she bumped into a tall blonde man. He looked like he was in his early thirties, and he had a toothpick in his mouth.

"Oh, hi!" Marie exclaimed. "I'm Marie!"

She raised her hand, and expected the man to high five her, just like how everyone did in Destiny Islands. He raised a brow, and laughed, Marie started to laugh, only because the man's laugh sounded funny.

"Heh, kid. You're alright," he ruffled Marie's hair. "I'm Cid."

"Hi Cid!" she laughed, when she noticed Braig looking towards her, she quickly left.

"Bye Cid!" she said while running, the man rubbed his head out of confusion, but laughed it off and waved at Marie. Marie wasn't going to go back to that evil man who was talking to Braig. When she was out of sight, she saw a tall man with long blonde hair and red eyes walking her way. The man had noticed her, and walked up to her.

"Where are your parents my dear?" he asked.

"Oh, they're far away," she said, she had a look of sadness appear on her face. "I don't know how to get back to them."

The man felt a little bad for asking, he assumed the girl had lost her parents, much similar to Ienzo. So the man did what he had to do.

"Why don't you come with me," he said. "I may have an extra room for you."

Marie smiled, she felt nothing bad about this man, and stuck out her hand. The man laughed, and held onto Marie's hand. As they walked to the man's castle, she looked up to him.

"I'm Marie," she said. "Are you going to me my big brother from now on?"

The man laughed. "If you feel the need to call me brother, then by all means, do so."

He looked down at the girl and smiled. "You can call me Ansem."

**Cave of Wonders – Jasmine**

Jasmine woke up, and noticed Marie sleeping next to her. It was the girl that was with that young boy named Sora, the one who tried to save them. Jasmine sighed, Marie wasn't bad, so Jasmine had nothing to fear.

She did however, hear a huge explosion. She looked over the edge to see what was happening, but when she heard footsteps and turned around, she was knocked out by a new villain. A villain named Riku.

He turned around to see Marie sleeping as well, at first, he hesitated at first, but he figured she would be happy to see him again, he was happy to see her. Happy to see her _without_ Sora.

It killed him how Sora and Marie suddenly just became best friends, and when he wanted to introduce them, Sora didn't put enough effort. And what was worse, Sora had begun to develop feelings for Marie. Even if Marie was happy to see Riku, he knew she would rather be with Sora. He was losing his best friends to each other, Riku was left in the dark.

He touched Marie's arm, but a barrier of light surrounded her. It lightly burned Riku's finger and he pulled back immediately. This was something that he hadn't expected from Marie, and it surprised him a little. He sighed, he still had other chances to take her, right? This wasn't the last time.

"Marie, remember me?" he whispered. He sighed again and left with Jasmine, he didn't want to do this, but he needed to save Kairi, the only friend who didn't leave him in the dark.

**Lamp room – Sora**

Sora and Aladdin reached the upper level of the lamp room with the help of carpet. Sora saw Marie lying on the floor, and worry strike him faster than the speed of light. Aladdin also saw that Jasmine wasn't with Marie, and he started to worry as well. Sora and Aladdin jumped off carpet, and Sora ran towards Marie while Aladdin looked for Jasmine.

"Jasmine?" he looked around, "Jasmine!"

Sora stood beside Marie, and shook her a few times. "Marie!"

**Lamp Room – Marie**

"Marie!"

I slowly opened my eyes, I no longer felt the ropes on me. I saw Sora towering over me. I raised my brow, and got up slowly. "What happened?"

"Jasmines gone," said Aladdin, and guilt hit me.

"I'm so sorry!" I pleaded. "I felt really sleepy and I took a nap! I didn't think anything bad would happen if you guys were fighting Jafar."

Aladdin sighed. "It's alright. They were trying to get you too but you managed to survive."

I sighed out of disappointment, and I turned around to see Agrabah's Keyhole lighting up. I got up and looked at Sora, but he already had his Keyblade out. He looked towards me, and nodded. We did the usual, took out our keys, sealed the Keyhole and watched it disappear.

"I'm glad you were just sleeping," sighed Sora. "I thought you fell unconscious again."

I was about to say something, but the floor began to rumble.

"Whoa," said Goofy. "We'd better get out of here!"

We got on carpet, and I'll tell you that I wasn't sitting on anyone's lap, instead I was holding onto Sora's arm. Goofy and Donald were holding onto Aladdin, none of us were sitting down, so there was some space.

Sora took control of carpet, and lead the way. Let me tell you, I've never been so terrified of a carpet until now. It wasn't stable to stand on carpet, and sometimes I slipped off. But I was holding on to Sora for dear life, no way am I falling into hot molten lava. We managed to escape the Cave of wonders, and head all the way to Agrabah.

**-x-**

"So, Jasmine's no longer in Agrabah," confirmed Aladdin. "Sora, Marie, Let's go find her."

"Sorry," said Sora. "We can't take you with us."

"W-why not?" asked a disheartened Aladdin.

"I sure wish we could," said Goofy. I did too.

"But we can't. If we take him to another world," said Donald. "We would be..."

"Muh...Mudd-"

"Meddling!"

"Aladdin, we'll find Jasmine," I assured. "I promise!"

I felt bad for sleeping while Jasmine was knocked out, I should have been on guard or something. I wanted to make sure Jasmine was alright, it was a stupid mistake and I'm gonna fix it.

"Uh, earth to Al. Hello?" said Genie. "You still have one wish left."

"Look, just say the world," he said. "Ask me to find Jasmine for you."

"I...I wish," started Aladdin. "...for your freedom, Genie."

Genie gasped, and a light surrounded him. He grew legs, since he previously had a ghost tail, and the shackles on his wrists disappeared.

"A deal's a deal, Genie," said Aladdin. "Now you can go anywhere you want. You're your own master."

"But if you can," he started. "It'd be great If you could go along with them and help Marie and Sora find Jasmine."

"Sorry, Al," he said while turning around. "I'm done taking orders from others."

"But..."

"A favour," he said. "Now that's entirely different. I guess I could give that a try."

"After all," Genie moved to Aladdin and placed an arm around his shoulder. "We're pals, right, Al?"

"Genie.." said Aladdin.

"Just leave it to me!" Genie smiled at Aladdin, and in return, Aladdin gave Genie a confirming laugh.

Yes, Genie was now on our side! Not that he wasn't already, but he was going with us!

**Villain's hideout – Maleficent, Hades and Riku**

"That smarmy vizier could've had 'em," Hades said. "If someone had stuck around to give him a hand."

"Hey, I did my part," Riku said. "I brought the princess, didn't I?"

"You didn't get the girl," Hades whispered. Riku glared at him, but didn't say anything.

"Jafar was beyond help," said Maleficent. "Consumed by his own hatred."

"One should beware of letting it burn too fiercely," she continued.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," objected Hades. "Lighten up. I'm as cool as they come, okay?"

"By the way, kid," he looked back at Riku. "have we got something special for you."

Riku looked at Maleficent with confusion, and only guessed what they meant.

"We had a deal, yes?" she smiled evilly. "You help us, and we grant you your wish.."

A hologram of Kairi, both Riku and Sora's friend, appeared. Riku called out to her, though it seemed hopeless. He didn't realize it, but Riku evidently replaced Marie with Kairi. He treated Kairi like a sister, and treated her well.

"Go to her," Maleficent said. "Your vessel is waiting."

In the corner, captain hook appeared, raising his hook. "Just remember, this is no pleasure cruise. It won't be a pleasant voyage."

"Why are you doing this for me?" asked Riku. "What's the catch?"

"Catch? What's the catch?" repeated Maleficent. "Silly boy. You're like a son to me. I only want you to be happy."

Maleficent cupped Riku's face, and he pulled away quickly. "I seriously doubt that."

"Believe what you wish" she continued. "But lest we forget, I lest my end of the bargain."

Riku stared at Maleficent, but then left after, not wanting to be in her presence any longer.

* * *

Alright, Chapter nine done.

Well, now you know the relationship between Riku and Marie. Riku doesn't like Marie like that, but just as a little sister. Who's been replaced by Kairi!

And it has been confirmed, Sora likes Marie! And Marie is starting to realize Sora's specialness. XD

As for the whole 'drawing faces in the secret cave'. I know it's been done by Kairi and Sora but you know what? WOTEVAR! Mine is awesomer.

I wonder why they want Marie so bad, the villains, that is.

Anyway, I'm sorry for the late update[i know it's been a day, but that's considered late for me. My other stories haven't been updated in years even though it's been weeks.]

But, I had to do something. I had to call the University that I was suppose to go to, and told them I wanted to withdraw from the course I was going to take, which was journalism.

Writing is my passion, but when my niece was born I just want to be with her. I love kids a lot, and I love to teach other people about the many things that I know about. So I'm applying to a college and going into Early Child Education, people tell me it's a downgrade from University, but hey, if I love it I'm going for it.

There was something else I was going to say...Meh, I'll remember it in the next Chapter.

**WARNING!**

Birth By sleep has not been released in America, Canada, Europe or Australia. I **WILL** write reference to BBS, and there's nothing I can do to avoid it. So if you wish to discontinue reading, I will understand. But if not, you're going to be spoiled!

**Thank yous!**

Thank you:  
**ars-nobody  
KaelyntheHedgehog-Silverpelt14  
CrystalYumemi  
Yuuka-Chann**

For placing this story in your favourites! Much love!

Thank you:  
**XxXTwilight-SinXxX  
KaelyntheHedgehog-Silverpelt14  
Yuuka-Chann**

For placing this story in your story alert list! Much love!

**Reviews:**

**ShimmerMist**  
-reads your review for a good five minutes- OHHH, now I get what you mean. XD seriously it took me five minutes to understand what you meant by the whole name thing. Silly me! And yes! I guessed it right!

And nuu! Cookie! Well, someday someone will invent something to make food go to other peope's screens. Although, if it happened, I wouldn't be surprised.

And haha! I wouldn't even bother to catch it, I is teh lazehh like that.

And yes! Riku knows Marie xD although that's in chapter Eight which you've already read! And which now you know why Riku calls Marie his 'beloved'. It's 'beloved SISTER!' xD And yes, Destiny is indeed _very_ messed up. But that's why we love it so much.

**Obsession239600020305:**  
Ah yes, the stench of love, I mean, the smell of love. Well, now you know that Riku doesn't really love Marie like _that_. it's a simple, harmless brother/sister love. And hurah for Flashback! I love them too! Thank you!

**Ziddy2343:**  
Ahaha, yes, you may have to keep low for a very long time, because I'm not revealing his name at all! Well, I will. But not until a _very_ long time. Although, I think some of you might get it, that is, if you have played or seen Birth By Sleep. I accidentally spoiled it for myself. Oops.

But thank you so much for the compliment, and I'm the chapter cleared some things.

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Yes, I do feel bad for Riku as well. Who knows? I might do a separate short story for him. Thank you so much for the compliment! And I love your story so far!

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
I love the flashbacks too! And Sora cashing a butterfly? Hey it happens all the time with him. And my name is SHIRLEY! XD but you already knew that..

But thank you for the compliment! And yes, evil cackle indeed.

**Ruciro:**  
Ahaha, nah. If they do, I'll buy robotic arms, that'll make me write 10xxx faster!

Thank you guys for reading yet again! Much love from **Canada!**


	10. Chapter Ten: Let me show you my heart

**Chapter Ten: Let me show you my heart **

We were on the Gummi ship, and Sora had told me about finding an Ansem report, as well as a torn piece of paper. I took it upon myself to read to the boys the report.

_Much of my life has been dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge.  
That knowledge has guarded this world well. Not a soul doubts that.  
I am blessed with people's smiles and respect. But though I am called a sage, there are things I do not understand.  
I believe darkness sleeps in every heart, no matter how pure. Given the chance, the smallest drop can spread and swallow the heart. I have witnessed it many times.  
Darkness...Darkness of the heart. How is it born?  
How does it come to affect us so?  
As ruler of this world, I must find the answers. I must find them before the world is lost to those taken by the darkness. _

"This could give us clues about the heartless," I said, reviewing the report. "I'll keep them with me, we may find more."

"What about the torn paper?" I asked after. Sora examined the paper, he moved it sideways and then upside down.

"Maybe it belongs to Merlin's book?" he asked. Sora, Donald, and Goofy knew about my mission around Traverse Town looking for Merlin and giving him the tattered book, just in case you're wondering how they knew.

"Let's return it to town and give it to him," suggested Goofy.

So we did.

**-x-**

We landed in the accessory shop, but we were met with something weird and random.

"Well, well," Jiminy said as he propped himself on Sora's shoulder. "As long as I live and breathe! If it isn't Pinocchio!"

A little wooden ...boy? Or doll? Whatever, he was on the floor covering his head, probably hiding from someone.

"Oh. Hi, Jiminy!" he chirped.

"What in the world are you doing down here?" Jiminy asked.

"Um...Playing hide-and-seek," he said, although he had to think about it.

"I just don't believe it," Jiminy said. "And here I was, up all night, just worried sick about you. Why of all the-"

"Pinocchio!"

It was weird, _very_ weird. The wooden boy's nose grew longer, and...well, really. I have nothing to say about it for once.

"Pinocchio!" shouted Jiminy. "Are you telling me the truth?"

"Yes!" he replied.

"Then tell me," Jiminy pointed at the box beside Pinocchio. "What is this?"

"It was a present," Pinocchio said.

"No fibbing, now!" retorted Jiminy. "You know you're not suppose to tell lies."

"A lie only grows and grows," he continued. "'Til you get caught! Plain as the nose on your face!"

I covered my nose, I told some lies to Sora. One was that Maleficent gave me powers, and two is that Hades helped me cover that lie. I'm pretty sure there are also some lies I've lied to myself about, I was starting to think that my life was currently a lie.

"I'll go find Geppetto, so you just wait here," I heard Jiminy say. Completely taking me out of my thought.

"These guys here will be helping me," he continued. We were doing what now?

"We will?" asked Sora. Heh, it was almost as if you read my mind!

"Well, shall we go, Sora?" Jiminy asked.

Sora looked at Jiminy with a solemn face. "You could've asked us first..."

"Well, that's another thing to add to our list," I said. "But we originally came here for Merlin's book, so let's go."

Sora nodded, and we both left. As we walked however, Sora's hand lightly brushed off mine. I looked at him, and he was looking at me too. It wasn't awkward or anything, it felt pretty...natural to touch hands or something.

Anyway, we made it to Merlin's house, and there we saw the book. I took out the torn paper, and the book began to open. A puff of sparkles surrounded both Sora and I, and the next thing I knew, I shrunk.

"Whoa, where are we?" Sora asked. I looked around, and I saw we were in a forest, I looked up and saw Merlin's ceiling. We were most likely in the tattered book.

"We're most likely in the book," I said. Sora nodded, and looked around.

"Hey, look over there!" he exclaimed. I looked over, and I saw an empty meadow.

"Let's check it out," I suggested.

We walked over to the meadow, and we saw a big log in the middle. We also saw a very cute looking teddy bear! Oh, I love teddy bears~

"Think, think," the teddy bear said. "Think, think."

I squealed, and I ran towards the teddy bear. It looked so much cuter up close, and it looked really fluffy too. I took a glance beside me, and Sora was looking at me as if I was weird or something, geez, can't a girl like cute things?

"Hi, there," Sora looked at the teddy bear. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, just thinking," he replied.

"Oh," was all Sora could say.

"I was thinking of how to say goodbye to pooh," the bear said.

"Pooh?" Sora asked.

"Yes?" he replied. I'm _thinking_ he's pooh. I asked just to be sure.

"Wait a second, are you pooh?" I asked, I took a seat next to Pooh, and Sora sat on the other side of Pooh.

"Yes, I'm Winnie the Pooh," he confirmed. "Pooh for short, who are you two?"

"I'm Sor-"

"I'm Marie! And you're the cutest thing ever!" I squealed, I looked over at Sora, and he looked a little angry. Whoops, probably shouldn't have cut him off like that.

**Hundred Acre wood**

**-x-  
Sora and Marie**

Sora didn't really experience jealousy to it's full extent.

Until now.

He didn't really like the fact that Marie was squealing all over Winnie the pooh, sure he was a teddy bear. But it really wasn't necessary for her to go all..._girly_ over him.

"Oh. Hello, Sor, Marie," greeted Pooh. "Have you come to say goodbye to Pooh, too?"

"Uh, it's Sora actually," replied Sora. "And why would I do that? We've only just met."

"And you're too cute to say goodbye too!" Marie said, giggling like a school girl. Sora could sit in jealousy right now.

Pooh laughed. "Well everyone's gone away."

"What do you mean?" asked Sora.

"Well, we all lived here in the Hundred Acre Wood," said Pooh. "And we'd take walks together, or play Pooh sticks.."

"And every day, I'd eat some honey," he finished. "Just one smackeral would taste very good right now."

Pooh rubbed his tummy, which made Marie smile brightly, and Sora glare intensely. "But now everyone's gone!"

"All my friends, and my favourite Hunny tree too," continued Pooh. "Everyone must've gone away while I was napping, I think.."

"So, who knows?" Pooh jumped off the log. "Maybe I shall end up going away somewhere as well."

This made Marie think. What Pooh said triggered a memory for her.

**FlashBack**

**Radiant Garden**

** – **

**Marie**

"Ansy," Marie called out. "Can I walk around town?"

"I suppose," Ansem looked over to Marie. "But I would prefer if Dilan accompanied you."

Ansem realized that Marie was at the stage of learning everything. Normally, he wouldn't even allow her to leave the castle, just like Ienzo. But she was learning, and growing. He didn't want to limit her knowledge, for she was a very clever and bright girl. So every time she would walk around outside the castle, he would assign her an escort.

"Ew," she said. "He's scary looking, why can't Even come instead?"

"He's much to busy raising Ienzo," replied Ansem. "So Dilan or Aeleus will do."

"Okay," she gave in. "I'll take Dilan."

"Perfect," Replied Ansem. "He's outside, I've already sent word."

Marie left, and along the way she saw Braig. She never really much liked him, as he had a weird feeling surrounding him. Also, he was the only person she knew that talked to the man that had kidnapped her. She left, glaring at the man.

Of course, Braig was having a hard time. The man who had kidnapped Marie ordered him to take her back as she had no darkness in her heart. He told Braig that she would prove useful in his experiments. This was rather tricky for Braig, as he had to take Marie when she wasn't with anyone, but she was _always_ with someone.

Outside the castle, Marie saw Dilan waiting. She hated being followed around, but if she wanted her freedom, she would have to comply.

"Are you ready for your walk?" asked Dilan, he was scary, but he was at least nice to Marie. But still scary looking.

"Yeah," she started walking ahead. She walked around, and met with people she had grown a relationship with, such as Cid, and bought some sea-salt ice cream from scrooge, whom she just referred to as 'uncle'.

But today was a unique day, upon eating her ice cream, she bumped into someone, resulting in her ice cream to fall.

"Oh!" the person said. "I'm so sorry!"

Marie looked at the ice cream, and then looked at the person. She was a tall woman with blue eyes and blue hair. She had a weapon with her, but Marie didn't really care.

"That's okay," she said. "I can always get more."

Marie looked at the woman, she smiled at her, and the woman smiled back. Marie stuck out her hand, signaling the woman to take it.

"Let's get more," she said. "I'll buy you one."

The woman smiled, and took Marie's hand. They walked back to Scrooge, along the way, Marie and the woman had a mutual interest in each other. Marie was able to see a protector inside the woman. While the woman, was able to sense the kindness, and purity within Marie's heart.

After buying the ice cream, Marie and the woman were sitting on a near-by bench. They both watched the sunset, and started eating their ice cream.

"I'm Marie," said Marie. "What's yours?"

The woman smiled, and chuckled. "I'm Aqua."

**Hundred Acre Wood **

**-x-  
Marie**

"Aqua..?" I said aloud.

Who was Aqua? This memory that I experienced surely wasn't mind. Was I...

"Who's Aqua?" I heard Sora ask.

"oh?" I looked at him. "No one, I was just...thinking about the colour Aqua."

"Oh," he said. "You were really out if it, I said your name five times."

"Oh," I said. I couldn't concentrate, and I was feeling a bit sad.

"Annnd, you're not paying attention to me are you?" I heard Sora, this time I was paying attention. I was still sitting on the log, and I looked up in the sky. Whatever was happening to me, I could tell to Sora, right? He's my friend, after all.

"Sora," I said. "Is it normal to forget everything you know about?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, it's just," I hesitated a bit, no, I have to at least let _someone_ know. "I've been forgetting stuff that I really shouldn't. I _used_ to remember my home, I _used_ to remember my friends, I _used_ to remember my parents. My brother and sister are the only memory I have to live on."

"How are you forgetting everything?" he asked, sounding a bit worried.

"That's the thing. I don't know how I'm forgetting," I felt my voice starting to crack. "I didn't want you to worry, but when we first tried to help Jasmine, Jafar said I didn't belong here, and to stop acting as if I did. And to start realizing the truth."

I looked down as I continued. "When I first met Cid, I felt like I've seen him so many times. And...When we met Riku..I also felt like I've seen him too."

Sora's eyes shot up. "Riku? Where have you seen him?"

"After Jafar let go of me, I passed out," I said, and he nodded. "I saw myself as a little girl talking to Riku, we were meeting for the first time. I don't know where we were, but it also felt familiar. If I don't belong here like Jafar said, then why do I know people? Like is any of this for real, or not?"

Sora had a melancholious expression. "I don't know. But I do know that what we're going through is real."

"I don't know," I depressingly said. "I really don't know about anything, Sora."

**Spoken moment **

**-x-  
Sora**

To forget everything was horrible, Sora thought. He wondered how Marie knew about Cid, and more importantly, Riku. He was glad Marie had told her about her personal vendetta, but at the same time he was a little annoyed that she hadn't told her earlier.

He now knew why she was so gloomy and distant at times, or why she was so out of it. Knowing that he couldn't help before killed him, but now, everything changed. He was granted the chance to help her, granted the chance to even save her from all the stress.

But one thing did cross his mind, if Marie was forgetting everything, would she eventually forget about him? Would she forget their adventure together? Sora didn't want this, he didn't want to become a memory, especially Marie's memory. He wanted to be in her mind twenty-four seven, he cared, almost _loved_ Marie. He wanted to ask to be sure.

"Marie," he asked. "Would you forget about me?"

"I don't know," she said, voice still shaking. "But I don't want to."

Sora looked at Marie, and noticed that she was struggling to keep herself from crying. Sora always liked how Marie was such a strong person, she was never faltering, never showed any signs of true weakness.

At least until now, her weakness was the truth about herself, and she was showing it, although barely. She struggled so much, but kept pushing forward strongly. Sora was quite glad to see her fragile side, if anything, this little moment made their friendship stronger.

"Marie," he softly said. "If you want to cry, you can cry on my shoulder."

Marie looked at Sora for a moment, and started to whimper. She was tugging on his sleeve, and soon after she dug herself in his shoulder, tightly holding onto him as she cried all her frustration and anger out.

It was at this moment Sora finally decided that he was going to be by Marie's side. Forever.

**Hundred Acre Wood **

**-x-  
Marie**

I cried, and cried, and cried everything that was bothering me. I knew Sora's sleeve was going to be wet, but I don't think he minded too much. It felt so good telling someone about my personal issue, and I was so grateful that Sora was the one to tell.

I lifted myself from Sora's sleeve, and wiped the excess tears. "Thanks, Sora. I really appreciate it."

I got off the log, and Sora jumped off after. I looked at his sleeve, and indeed it was wet, I touched it, and starting rubbing it lightly. I felt Sora's hand grasp mine, and I looked at him. He was smiling, as usual.

"I'll try hard to help you," he said. "I won't let you suffer anymore."

All I could do was smile and stare, Sora was amazing. Behind that cute exterior was a sweet and caring person, with a generous heart. Whether I realize the 'truth' that Jafar told me to remember or not, I do know one thing:

I want to stay with Sora for as long as I can. I don't know if I'm too young to say this, but I really do love Sora, so I hugged him. "Thank you Sora. I trust you."

"let's go help out pooh," he said, ruffling my hair. "I'm sure he needs our help too."

I chuckled, and started walking. But not to long after I felt Sora's hand clasp into mine, he smiled at me, and I noticed a little bush on his face. I smiled back, and we went to look for pooh while holding hands.

**-x-**

Well, I won't bore you with boring details. All we really did in the book was find Pooh's friends, and help him attain some hunny to eat. We were still missing some pages, so we couldn't finish the book entirely, so we left and met up with Donald and Goofy.

"Alright," I said, waving my arms around. "Let's go look for those other pages!"

"We gotta look for Geppetto too," added Goofy.

"Well let's go already!" said a very impatient looking Donald.

We walked back to the gummi ship, and left Traverse Town. I was reading over the Ansem report again, trying to find anything else about the heartless, but with just one report it was kinda hard.

"What is that?" I heard Donald asked. I looked up and saw on the screen a huge blue blob, it was floating.

"Wow, it's huge!" exclaimed Sora. I saw the huge blob moving, and it started coming towards us, I kinda panicked, and held onto Sora. When it started moving left, I saw that I was a giant whale, and it passed us. I sighed, but wow, that thing is HUGE!

"It's a giant whale!" exclaimed Goofy.

"It's Monstro!" exclaimed Jiminy. Geez, everyone was exclaiming a lot. "He's a whale of a whale, and vicious besides!"

I quickly glanced at the screen, and I saw Monstro coming back. Holy crap, that thing is going to eat us if we don't get out of here.

"Whoa! Sora, get us out of here!" shouted Donald. I looked over and saw Monstro's mouth opening.

"Too late!" I shouted. "It's gonna swallow us!"

**The past **

**Destiny Islands**

**-  
Sora**

On Destiny islands, there were two young boys walking down some steps. They were best friends, Sora and Riku. They were walking along to the 'secret cave', Sora had heard a monster, and ran to Riku saying it was real.

"It's true! I saw it with my own eyes!" exclaimed a little Sora.

"You sure you didn't just hear it this time?" asked a little Riku.

"What difference does it make?" said Sora. "There's a huge monster in there, I tell you!"

"All right. Suppose there really is a monster," said Riku. "Think we can beat it by ourselves, Sora?"

"No problem," Sora raised his fist. "Let's do it!"

"Listen! There!" he shouted. "Can you hear it growling?"

Riku leaned in the entrance of the 'secret cave' and tried listening. "Shh, quiet. We've gotta be careful."

Both Riku and Sora walked into the 'secret cave', and listened closely. Riku face-palmed when he found out it was the wind making that 'howling' noise. He pointed at the sky. "See that? It was just the wind making that noise."

Sora dropped his shoulders, and then stood straight. He walked a little further in, and stood in front of the drawing that Marie had drawn a couple of months ago. "Aw man, I wish it was a monster!"

"Hold on," Sora turned to his right. "What's that over there?"

A door appeared to their right, Riku walked up to it, while Sora stayed behind. "A window, or maybe a door? It won't open."

Riku sighed, and walked up to Sora. Sora looked around, and soon got bored. "Geez, is that really all that's in here?"

"What do you expect in a boring place like this?" Riku looked around. "Hey, Sora."

"Hm?" Sora turned to Riku with a questioning look.

"When we grow up, let's get off this island." said Riku. "We'll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!"

Although it was true that he wanted to go on real adventures, Riku really wanted to find Marie. He was sure she was off the island, and was probably in cool places.

"Sure," Sora agreed. "But isn't there anything fun to do now?"

"Let's go build a raft," replied Riku.

**Monstro **

**-x-  
Sora**

"**KNOCK IT OFF!**" shouted Donald.

Sora awoke, and rubbed his head. He heard Donald yelling and got up to see what the commotion was.

"Hey, Sora, are you okay?" asked Goofy, he was shielding himself from something above.

Sora took a moment to take in what was happening, and what happened. "What are you guys doing? Where are we, anyway?"

Sora looked around, and something seemed off. He looked and looked until he finally realized. "You guys, where's Marie!"

A treasure chest fell from above, and Sora dodged it.

"Uh, ya know," said Goofy. "I think that big ol' whale Monstro just swallowed us. And we don't know where Marie is."

"And for today's weather: expect showers," Goofy said as he covered himself, a treasure chest fell in top of his shield. "heavy showers!"

Sora began to worry, he promised to himself he wouldn't leave her side, and right after that promise they both get separated. Sora sighed, he trusted Marie, and he knew she was going to be alright. He had faith after all.

"Hey!" shouted Donald. "Who's there?"

"It's me," shouted Pinocchio.

"Oh, it's just Pinocchio," he said, taking in a moment to realize why he was here. "Pinocchio!"

"Pinocchio!" Jiminy propped himself on Sora's shoulder. "Pinocch, where are you going? Pinocch!"

Pinocchio left, carrying a gummi block with him. Jiminy sighed and looked at the rest. "Come on, everybody! After him! Quick!"

"What about Marie?" asked Sora. He wasn't really worried, she was strong, but regardless he was still worried a bit.

"Marie is a strong girl," said Jiminy. "I'm worried about Pinocchio. We'll look for Marie right after we find Pinocch!"

Sora nodded, although reluctantly. And they began following Pinocchio.

**FlashBack**

**Radiant Garden **

**– **

**Marie**

Today was a very special day for Marie, as she was going to hang out with her older sister without having Dilan or Aeleus escorting her.

Now, Aqua wasn't Marie's _real_ sister, but the bond that these two had was similar to that of one. They even went so far as to call each other sisters, and it didn't feel awkward saying it.

"Sis!" Marie called out. She waved at Aqua, and walked over to her. "Where are we going today?"

"Well, sis, we're going to eat some sea-salt ice cream," Aqua replied. "I've got something to tell you."

Aqua had a frown on her face, she wasn't coming back to see Marie again, and this was going to be her last visit. Her friend Terra was in trouble, as he had been taken by the darkness. Aqua needed to save him, she felt like she was the only one who could. She also had overheard Braig talk with the man who kidnapped Marie, she found out that Marie had no darkness in her heart, and was supposed to be fused with Vanitas in order to complete the X-blade, but when Ventus came back, Braig had told the man about it, and thus calling off the plan to kidnap Marie.

They arrived at the benches just outside of the castle, and they both sat down. Aqua looked down at her ice cream, too sad to eat it for the last time.

"So what do you gotta tell me?" Marie asked, smiling at Aqua.

Aqua hesitated for a bit, she didn't want to leave. "My friends are in trouble, and I need to save them. Marie, this will be the last time we might see each other."

Marie stared at Aqua, she was getting sad at the thought of her sister leaving her, but her friends were in trouble. Marie had to understand.

"If your friends are in trouble," said Marie. "Then you should help them, because they need you. Don't worry about me, sis. If people are in trouble, we need to help them, right?"

"I love you a lot, sis," Marie continued. "But I'm not in trouble, so you don't need to stay."

Aqua smiled, she knew Marie would understand. She feared she would first object to it, but Marie understood better than anyone, because she was always the type to help people. Aqua thought for a moment, Marie had always told her about wanting to help people when she was older, maybe this would be the start of it.

"Marie," Aqua said. "I want to give you something."

Aqua took out her Keyblade, and positioned so that the handle was facing Marie. "Marie, touch the handle of my blade."

Marie listened, and grabbed the handle. A brief glow of light emitted from the sword, and Marie gasped.

"You now have the power to help others," Aqua smiled. "When you're older you'll understand. You'll do all kinds of nice things."

Marie smiled, and looked at her hand. Aqua had initially meant to do the Keyblade inheritance ritual with Sora, the young boy on Destiny Islands, but when she found out that Terra had done the ritual with Sora's best friend Riku she refrained from doing it. She didn't want him to fight his best friend like she was about to. Marie had a pure, strong heart, Aqua trusted her decision to make Marie a Keyblade wielder.

"Oh!" Marie exclaimed. "I forgot, I made this for you."

Marie gave Aqua a necklace. The chain was a simple string covered in beads, and attached to the necklace were a pair of wings.

"Ansy helped me make it," Marie said. "My mom told me that wings protect people, so I made it for you, you see, I can protect you too!"

Aqua smiled, and put on the necklace. She touched the necklace, and she could almost feel the purity of it. It was made by someone with a pure heart after all. Aqua hugged Marie, it was a beautiful farewell present.

"You're going to be my guardian angel, huh?" said Aqua. "Thank you sis, I'll keep it with me forever."

Marie smiled, and Aqua got up. She said farewell for Marie, and wished her the best of luck in her future. Marie told Aqua that she'll help her friends, and that she along with her friends will hang out with Marie one day. Aqua smiled, and proceeded to walk away.

Marie waved until Aqua wasn't visible anymore, although she was happy that Aqua wanted to save her friends, she was going to miss her.

Because that was the last day that Marie ever saw Aqua again.

**Monstro **

**-x-  
Marie**

This was the second time being separated from Sora. Although I wasn't worried back then, mainly because I didn't know Sora that well, I was a little worried now. I knew Sora well, and he could easily fight off heartless, but I knew he was worried about me. He always is, but I'm good right now. I didn't break any bones or anything, so good start so far.

I did notice a paper beside me, and I picked it up. It was another Ansem report, but I didn't bother to read it until I met up with Sora and the others. I looked around, there was a lot of places I could go, but I had to choose one. So I chose the left one.

As I walked over to the left opening, I heard a crunching noise, and I looked down. There were two pieces of paper on the floor. I read the first one.

_I'm not supposed to do this, but I want you to remember me._

I raised my brow, what the heck? Maybe this was meant for someone else, it wasn't signed or anything though. I looked over to the other paper, and I noticed it didn't have an author's name or anything like that either. But the title of the report said 'Marie'. So I began to read aloud.

_The moment I saw this girl I knew something was special about her.  
She had offer to help in the experiment on repressing darkness, we wanted to see if there were any traits someone with a pure heart had that could help in repressing darkness.  
We had linked her up to the machines we had in the laboratory, and so far everything seemed all right._

_But I couldn't have been more wrong.  
The machine went awry, and it damaged the child, placing her in a coma.  
What I saw that the others did not see was that a glow of light appeared on her forehead very quickly.  
We left the young girl in a coma, and did not touch the machines, for fear of harming her._

* * *

I received my books from the website. One was a hardcover recent Dictionary, the second is a hardcover Encyclopedia, and the third one is a hardcover Thesaurus. My friend came over the day it was delivered, and she called me weird for buying books instead of jewelery, clothes or make-up. Then I realized, I'm a nerd. A HUGE nerd. Oh well, I live my life as one then.

Anyway, chapter ten is finally done! I'm **SO SORRY** for the late update. But as you can see, I've give you more information on Marie, and a very very fluffy moment between Sora and Marie. And, OH NOES! They got separated again!

Also, I decided not to add the details of A Hundred Acre Wood because, no heartless, no fun. But it is a great place for fluff, and when they get to the last torn page, I shall write about that, as it shall be another fluff moment!

**And also, I created a website full of all my stories and all my OCs, if you want to check it out, click in the homepage button on my profile page!**

Anyway, time for thank-yous!

Thank you:  
**.Sora  
ztmackin  
**  
For placing this story in your favourites! Love you guys!

And thank you:  
**MarLuna  
ztmackin  
**  
For placing this story in your story alert list! Love you guys as well!

**Now for reviews:**

**ShimmerMist:**  
As you've read, Sora covered the drawing, and it goes like this most of the time. But really, when do Sora and Riku ever go inside there unless Sora goes crying 'MONSTER! MONSTER!'? I hardly think ever, and since Kairi comes along they're all too busy having fun while Marie suffers! T_T

Marie is a horrible drawer xD I doubt Sora will recognize her.

Yes, they do want a piece of her Dx I dunno about awesome, but she does posses something they need. And Maleficent is possibly the only one who pays attention, she controls all the other baddies after all. But MANSEX controls her! XD

Then stabbed I shall be! I'd probably be too lazy to even cry out in pain. Dx

**XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX:**  
Thank you! I'm glad my story is your addiction, makes me feel happy![well better this than crack, right?]  
And yes, the whole Sora/Marie concept might be confusing, but it will be sweet in the end. And Sora is very sweet towards Marie, and he will only get sweeter. He cares for her deeply.

**sajere1:**  
Thank you for your compliment!  
Now that I think about it, I feel like making Marie a fallen angel. I haven't seen anything like that in Halloween Town, so I thought maybe, why not? But I like the idea about the heartless/nobody pin! XD

And well, it's a bit complicated. I will go through Re:Chain of memories, but Marie won't be there, but she will be there. =S I don't want to say much, but that's all I will say.

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
Thank you! And I'm glad you don't mind, prepare for some mild-to-major spoiling!  
And thank you, I love her a lot, and I want to be a teacher,(preferably an English teacher), so I can possibly teach her in the near future!

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Thank you very much for your compliment!  
Marie probably spends most of her childhood in RG. XD  
And you update as well! I can't wait for your next chapter!

Well, thank you guys for reading. I hope you liked this chapter. Love from **Canada!**


	11. Chapter Eleven: Heart, soul, and power

Chapter eleven and I'm already half through the game! Yay!  
Also, **please check out this picture if Marie's mermaid outfit! I won't be describing it in the story!  
Mermaid Marie:**  
http:/ / swirl3y. weebly. com /uploads /5/0/2/5/5025363/7234614_orig. jpg

Just connect the spaces[fanfiction doesn't let me link T_T]

Marie doesn't seem to like Atlantica much either T_T

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: Heart, soul and power**

**Keyblade Graveyard  
-x-  
Xehanort, Aqua, Terra and Ventus**

It was the end.

The battle to end it all. Xehanort had everything well underway, he was going to release his heart and make Terra his new vessel, so he may live forever in a younger body. Although he regretted the decision to discontinue the kidnapping of Marie, because he had figured her out.

She was the physical manifestation of Kingdom Heart's heart, soul and power. Kingdom Hearts must have chosen her from birth to be it's protector.

It was also no wonder he felt such incredible power from her, but he was only able to sense the power of light. In his reports, he concluded that both light and dark were needed to balance the worlds, but all he was able to sense was the power of light from Marie.

He knew killing Marie would completely seal Kingdom hearts, and not even the X-blade would be able to unlock it. However, it would make things easier if she were here, that way he would have no trouble drawing out Kingdom heart's power.

Still, he had a lot of power as well. All he really had to do was forcefully steal power from Kingdom hearts. Marie didn't have the slightest idea what she was, so she couldn't stop him.

"Heh," he said. "I should feel bad for the child, but I don't."

Aqua looked at Xehanort, confused, but at the same time, could only think of one child. "Who are you talking about?"

"That silly child I kidnapped, Marie, was her name," he said.

Aqua's eyes widened, her best friend, no, her _sister_ was possibly in danger. She grew angry, and demanded Xehanort that he explained.

And of course he did. He told her about Marie's purpose, and her role in the world. He told her everything he found out about the girl, and after every explained detail Aqua only grew angrier. This was not happening, Marie was in danger, and Aqua was a world away from saving her.

"Enough of this," said Xehanort. "Now, for the finishing act."

Xehanort stabbed himself with his Keyblade, and immediately started to force the power of Kingdom Hearts, or rather, Marie.

Marie had stopped suddenly in her room, and felt someone trying to 'steal' something from her. She placed her hands on her heart, and her body began to glow. She had caught a glimpse of who was trying to steal from her, and when she recognized him she immediately began to stop the flow of power, and had cut Xehanort off.

Xehanort had managed to place his heart in his new vessel, but he wasn't completely finished, as the power was cut. It didn't matter however, because he was functioning well in his new body.

However, his fruition with Kingdom Hearts came to an end when he lost the battle to Terra's lingering sentiment. He fainted, and was unable to continued with his plans.

Marie had felt the portion of her power missing, and she needed to recover it. However a simple sleep was not going to suffice, she needed more sleep. But where was she going to get it?

**Monstro  
-x-  
Sora, Donald, and Goofy**

"What have you got there, pinocchio?" asked Geppetto.

"With this," Pinocchio pointed at the gummi piece he had before. "We can get out of here, father."

"Really? With this big block?" Geppetto asked. "You think so?"

"It's true," Sora said as he climbed up to where Geppetto and Pinocchio was. "So, how did you end up here, Pinocchio?"

"Oh, my," Geppetto looked surprised. "So the whale swallowed all of you, too? My goodness"

"Yeah, looks like it," said Sora.

"My name is Geppetto," he said. "I'm Pinocchio's father."

"When we got separated," continued Geppetto. "I traveled all over, looking for him. Thank goodness we're together again."

Pinocchio stood there for a moment, but he later noticed something. He walked over to the ledge of the broken ship, and looked to see who or what was there. He saw Riku running deeper inside Monstro, So he went after Riku.

"So, you seem to know Pinocchio quite well," said Geppetto, oblivious to Pinocchio's absence. "I hope he was a good boy in my absence."

"Well, we've all had quite a journey," Geppetto said as he placed the gummi piece beside his bed. "Right, Pinocchio? Pinocchio?"

Geppetto saw that Pinocchio has left to go wander off. Geppetto sighed, and asked Sora if he could look for him, as he was precious to him. Sora nodded, he also had someone precious to him he needed to find.

**Monstro  
-x-  
Marie**

I stared at the report and, as usual, I'm confused.

But at the same time, these reports may help me understand more about my , I guess, existence. I just needed to know the legitimacy of this report, and if I'll find more. I know I'm suppose to be angry about finding something like this, I usually do get angry, but whoever placed this here probably wants me to realize the truth. Just as Jafar wanted me to.

Anyway, I walked over to the left area of Monstro...and it looked like the room I was just in.

I sighed, this might be a little harder than I thought.

**Monstro  
-x-  
Sora, Donald and Goofy.**

"What are you doing?" asked Sora, who had found Pinocchio hiding behind a wall. "Come on, let's go back."

"You know, Geppetto's awfully worried about you," said Goofy.

"Pinocchio, stop fooling around!" shouted Sora, he was in no mood for games, he wanted to look for Marie. "This is no time for games!"

Sora, Donald and Goofy walked away, but as soon as they could reach the entrance, Sora heard Riku's voice.

"But, Sora," he said. Sora turned around. "I thought you liked video games."

"Or are you too cool to play with them now that you have the Keyblade?" he asked again.

"Riku!" exclaimed Sora. "Wh-What are you doing here?"

"Just playing with Pinocchio," he calmly said.

"You know what I mean!" retorted Sora."What about Kairi? No, what about Marie? Have you seen her?"

This caught Riku off guard, their relationship had gone farther than he expected. He needed to find a way to kidnap Marie, but he needed to do it when Sora or his friends weren't around. He wasn't suppose to do it, but he placed a letter near Marie. It was a note he wrote telling her to remember him, and beside the note, was the report that Maleficent had. She had gotten them from Ansem, and read everything about Marie. Which lead to her fixation on her. Riku didn't read the report, because he had a good idea that it was just about Marie's past and whatnot.

Riku was about to speak, but he saw something moving on the ledge in between Sora and him. When he looked up, he saw Marie jumping down exactly in between Sora and him. She landed perfectly, with one knee bent down, and he hand was in the air.

**Monstro  
-x-  
Marie**

"Enter the amazing Marie!" I shouted. I landed perfectly on the floor, and it was such a cool landing too! Although, I doubt this was a time to celebrate my awesome landing, unfortunately.

"Marie!" shouted Sora, I looked over to him, and he had a overjoyed look on his face. "You're okay!"

"Of course," I said, flicking back my bangs. "I learned from the best, didn't I?"

Sora started laughing, and I smiled. I turned around, and came face-to-face with Riku. My smiled turned into a frown, as he didn't look too happy.

"Hmph," he said. "If you want to know about Kairi, catch us and maybe I'll tell you what I know."

"What?" Sora stumbled a bit before realizing that he said. "Come on!"

Riku took Pinocchio's hand, and left to go deeper inside Monstro.

I wonder what was going through Riku's mind. He knows me, but I'm still trying to find out what is real. I do know, however, that when I find out, I want to give Riku a proper apology for being such a horrible friend. Because I know for a fact I was. But for now, I'm only able to say sorry that I can't remember our friendship.

"Marie!" exclaimed Sora. "Are you okay? You're not hurt?"

I looked at Sora, and I chuckled. "I'm okay Sora. But we gotta go after Riku! He took Pinocchio, and he knows something about your friend Kairi."

"If you feel funny," said Goofy. "We can always take a break."

"Don't worry. We'll be in big trouble if something bad happens to Pinocchio," I said. "so let's go!"

Sora nodded, and we left.

"That jump you did was really good," commented Donald.

"Thanks!" I smiled. "I kept practicing, and I managed to pull it off."

Sora smiled, and he put his arm around my shoulder. I started laughing, and I tickled his sides. I knew Sora was feeling a little sad, mainly because of Riku disappearing again, and also because of his friend Kairi. So I felt like cheering him up.

"You guys are making me sick," said Donald. "you can get all lovey dovey after we save Pinocchio."

I blushed, I wasn't getting lovey dovey. Heck I wasn't even Sora's girlfriend.

"Well, we're not _that_ love dovey," I said. "We're not even dating."

I stuck my tongue at Donald, but then I laughed after. I looked at Sora, and he kinda looked a little sad. I hope I didn't offend him or anything.

**Monstro  
-x-  
Sora**

It was true, he and Marie were not dating, he could easily ask her to be his girlfriend, but something bothered him.

And that was Kairi. He liked her, but as a friend. But somehow he felt that if he told Kairi that he found someone he really and truly loved, she wouldn't be the same. He didn't want anyone to be sad or angry, and that's what bothered him. Kairi's sadness, and Riku's potential anger, since he did know Marie. He assumed that Riku liked Marie, as he was always different when she was near.

He knew his feelings for Marie were true, but he didn't want to make anyone sad or angry. This was his personal vendetta, his love versus the happiness of his friends.

**Monstro  
-x-  
Riku**

"Why do you still care about that boy?" asked Maleficent. "He has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and his new companions, after all."

"I don't care about him, or Marie," Riku lied. "I was just messing with them a little."

"Oh, really? Of course you were," he replied. "You wouldn't happen to know where those reports on the girl went, do you?"

Riku shook his head. "No, I didn't even know about them."

Maleficent gave Riku an unconvinced look. "You are **not** to get anywhere near the girl anymore. Your feelings are too involved."

She started walking past him as he glared. "You should also beware the darkness in your heart. The heartless prey upon it."

A portal appeared, and she walked through it. Riku looked over at her, angered. "Mind your own business!"

**Monstro  
-x-  
Marie**

We managed to spot Pinocchio, and we followed him. He saw Riku, and Pinocchio ran past him as well.

"Riku," said Sora. "What's the matter with you? What are you thinking?"

"Don't you realize what you're doing?" he continued.

"I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora," Riku replied. "You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days."

"Do you even want to save Kairi?" he continued. Sora looked down, and he looked a little hesitant to answer. But I know better than anyone else that Sora is here to save Riku and Kairi. Although Riku looks saved to me.

"Of course he does!" I stepped in. "There's not a day where Sora doesn't think about you or Kairi. You're both his friends, and you're both important to him no matter what anyone says!"

Right after what I said, we heard Pinocchio screaming. Riku also turned around, I truly felt horrible, for forgetting my friendship with Riku. I really did. "I'm sorry I can't remember you, Riku. I'm still trying to figure out what's real to me, so please. Give me some time."

I didn't give Riku the chance to say anything, as I ran past him to see what was up with Pinocchio. Although I'm pretty sure...

He saw the tears that were running down my cheeks.

**-x-**

I went into the next room, and I saw Pinocchio trapped inside a parasite cage heartless. I saw Sora, Donald and Goofy run in, and then I saw Riku. I took out my Keyblade, and prepared myself. I looked at Riku and Sora, who were at my side. I had to ignore my feelings about Riku for now, because a friend was in trouble.

"Are you two ready?" I asked rather sharply. Riku nodded, and looked at Sora. "You up for this?" he asked him.

"No problem," replied Sora. He took out his Keyblade, and prepared himself. "Let's do it!"

Riku jumped and attacked the monster. Donald stood where he was and went to cast spells, and Goofy blocked and attacked with his shield. Sora also fought alongside Riku, while I fought a completely different side then the rest. I attacked so ferociously because all these bottled up emotions that I had weren't necessary, and I needed to release them.

Riku may hate me for forgetting, but that'll be something I'll have to live with. My family may hate me for forgetting them, but it's something I have to live with. Right now, a lot of people need help, and I just can't stand and be confused and sad about my own existence, I should be happy that I'm alive and not eaten by the heartless.

I looked around, and noticed Pinocchio had a few scratched on his wooden leg. I ran to him, and I managed to dodge a tentacle from the heartless, and I healed Pinocchio. "Don't worry, Pinocchio! We'll get you outta here!"

Soon after, Sora went to cast fire on the heartless, and it started to convulse. It hung to the ceiling and the floor opened up. The heartless threw Pinocchio in there, and Riku followed immediately after. This never ends, does it?

I felt Sora's eyes on me, and I looked at him. He definitely had a worried look on his face, and I don't blame him, I was acting weird. But I ignored it, and I nodded, looking at the hole. He took it as the signal for us to jump down, and so we did.

We landed on top of a broken ship, and we saw an old man calling out for Pinocchio. My guess was, this man is Pinocchio's father.

"Please! Give me back my son!" he cried out. I walked beside him, and saw Riku holding Pinocchio as if he were a toy.

"Sorry, old man," said Riku. "I have some unfinished business with this puppet."

"He's no puppet!" cried Pinocchio's father. "Pinocchio is my little boy!"

"He is unusual," argued Riku. "Not many puppets have hearts."

"I'm not sure, but maybe he can help someone who's lost theirs," he finished.

"Wait a minute," said Sora. "Are you talking about Kairi?"

"What do you care about her?"retorted Riku, and he walked away with Pinocchio.

"Kairi.." Sora looked down at the floor. Did Kairi lose her heart? No..

"Let's go," I said, walking to where Riku went. "Riku's doing the wrong thing, we have to stop him."

"But-"

"If Kairi really did lose her heart, then this isn't the way to fix it," I said. Pinocchio has every right to have a heart as well. "She may not be my friend, but Stella always told me to help anyone who needs it."

Sora walked beside me, and held my hand. "Okay, let's go."

I nodded, and the four of us left to where Riku went.

**-x-**

We managed to make it to where Riku went, and it was Monstro's stomach. We walked to the middle of the stomach, and we saw Riku standing over Pinocchio.

"Hey, let Pinocchio go, Riku," said Sora.

"A puppet that's lost it's heart to the heartless.." Riku started. "Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi."

"How about it, Sora?" asked Riku. "Let's join forces to save her. We can do it, together."

Um, hello? What about me? Where's my invitation to help? I looked over to Sora, who took his stance, I guess what I said about other ways to save Kairi hit him.

"What? You'd rather fight me?" Riku said. "Over a puppet that has no heart?"

I was going to say something, but Sora placed his arm in front of me. "Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience," he said.

"Conscience?" asked Riku.

"You might not hear it," continued Sora. "But right now it's loud and clear. And it's telling me you're on the wrong side!"

I looked over to Riku, he was a little disappointed. He did kidnap Pinocchio, that to me is enough to know you're not right.

"Then you leave me no choice," Riku said. I looked over to Pinocchio, and I saw Jiminy running towards him. Pinocchio didn't look so well, and it kind of made me sad how Riku could do such a thing. As I saw Pinocchio coughing, I decided to heal him. I started walking towards him, and I even passed Riku. I bent down and placed my hand on Pinocchio's heart, and I healed him.

I heard a rattling noise, and I looked up. The monster from before came falling down, and it landed in front of Sora, Donald, and Goofy. I saw Riku going into a tunnel, he looked at me, and I gave him a disappointing look. He left, and I took out my Keyblade. I knew this was going to be rough battle for both Sora and I, because our minds were somewhere else.

**Radiant Garden  
The past  
-x-  
Marie**

Ansem told Marie that a new member was going to join him and be another apprentice. Marie sighed, she wasn't in the mood to be friendly. It was a year after Aqua left, and she was saddened that Aqua never came back. But she still had hope.

"Marie, this is Xehanort," Ansem pointed at the man, who oddly enough looked familiar to her. Even the name sounded familiar, Marie immediately felt something bad about this man, but ignored it. She didn't want to cause Ansem problems, he was in a sad mood as well. Marie walked up to the man and shook hands with him, even his handshake almost felt the same.

She knew this was going to go wrong.

About a month after meeting Xehanort, Ienzo came into the room where Ansem and Mare were. They were both eating sea-salt ice cream, and talking about general stuff. Ienzo didn't very much like Marie, as she was always with Ansem. He even wore the necklace that Marie had made him, it was similar to the one she made for that Aqua woman.

"Ansem, Xehanort is ready for the experiment," he said. Ansem nodded, and left. Marie followed afterward.

"Marie, you stay here," Ansem said. "This might be a little too much for you."

"What are you doing?" she asked. "Maybe I can help."

"No, Marie," he replied. "You're much to young."

Marie ignored Ansem, and ran past him. She pushed Ienzo, since he was in her way, and ran towards the laboratory that they built. She entered, and saw Xehanort, Braig, Dilan, Even, and Aeleus all huddled up talking among themselves.

Ansem came in afterward, and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Well, now that you're here I might as well tell you then. You see, we're going to do an experiment to repress darkness."

"I wanna help!" Marie exclaimed. "Let me help! Let me help! Let me help! Let me help!"

Ansem rubbed his temples, and then thought long and hard. Marie was very innocent, and did not seem to have any darkness in her heart. It would benefit the both of them, Marie would be able to help, and Ansem may find out more on how to repress the darkness inside the heart.

He turned around, and saw Marie and Ienzo bickering and sticking their tongues out at each other . He sighed, and spoke. "Marie, I'll allow you to help."

By this time Marie had Ienzo in a headlock, and pushed him to the floor. "Really! Yes!"

Ansem raised his brow, he really ought to keep those two apart. Ansem thought of some plans on how to use Marie in his experiment, and then he figured that he would monitor her heart. He would see if it reacted differently than Xehanort's.

When tying Marie up to the machines, everything went well. Her heart rate was normal, and she was breathing normally. There were no signs or abnormality, and she seemed relaxed. Ansem looked at Marie, and she was humming to herself while looking at the books and other machines, Marie was very helpful.

"Everything seems alright," said Ansem. He checked the monitor. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine!" she giggled. Ansem smiled, and sighed in relief. He heard something, and soon enough, the wires started to fuse. Ansem tried fixing them, but the electricity sparked him, and burned the tip of his finger. The electricity also sparked the monitor and in returned sparked Marie.

She immediately passed out, and the machines returned to normal. Ansem quickly ran to Marie's side, and examined her. She wasn't waking up, but she was breathing. Ansem didn't want to do anything else to Marie, for fear that she could actually die the next time something went wrong.

Ansem sighed, and cursed out loud to himself. How could he even think of putting his studies before the safety of someone as little as Marie. She had called him 'brother' a lot, but he could barely even consider himself her brother after this.

This was a guilt he had to live with for the rest of his life, and he could only wait till she woke up to say how sorry he was.

**Monstro's Stomach  
-x-  
Marie**

After defeating the parasite cage heartless, we saw it fall to the floor. It's heart left, and floated into the air. The floor began to shake afterward, and I looked around to see if everyone was alright.

"Run!" shouted Donald. I looked over at Sora, he was calling out to Riku. "Riku! Riku, where are you?"

I took Sora's hand. "Sora, let's go!"

We ran towards the exit.

**Captain Hook's cabin  
-x-  
Riku**

Riku stared at Kairi's lifeless body. He felt horrible for not being able to do anything about Kairi's heart.

"So," he looked at Kairi sadly. "Kairi's like a lifeless puppet now?"

"Precisely," Maleficent said.

"And her heart was?" asked Riku.

"Taken by the heartless, no doubt," replied maleficent.

"Tell me!" shouted Riku. "What can I do?"

"There are seven maidens of the purest heart," she started. "We call them the princesses of heart."

"Gather them together," she continued. "And a door will open to the heart of all worlds."

"Within likes untold wisdom," she said. "But in order to actually open the door, and to save Kairi, you need to get Marie. She seems to be connected as well."

"Once open," she said. "you will surely find a way to recover Kairi's heart."

"Now, I'll grant you a marvelous gift," she smiled wickedly. "The power to control the heartless."

Riku glowed a sickly yellow, and then it disappeared. He looked over to Kairi. "Soon, Kairi. Soon."

**Gummi Ship  
-x-  
Marie**

"That was gross," I said. We were out of Monstro, but only because he had to sneeze us out.

"I sure hope Pinocchio and Geppetto are okay," said Goofy.

"Yeah," agreed Donald. "Hopefully they landed safely somewhere."

I turned to Sora, and he looked sad. "Riku..."

I sighed, I wonder what Riku was even thinking when he wanted to take Pinocchio's heart. I know he wants to save Kairi, but I know there's another way.

Well, anyway. We made it to another planet.

"Okay, guys," said Donald. "Prepare for landing."

"Land where?" asked Sora. "In the sea? We'll drown!"

"Not with my magic, we won't," he reassured. "Just leave it to me."

**Atlantica  
-x-  
Marie**

We warped into Atlantica, that's the name of this world, and we were all transformed into fish. I looked around, and I saw that Donald was an Octopus, Goofy was a turtle, and Sora was a shark boy. I was a mermaid who stayed behind a rock for more or less obvious reasons.

I was barely wearing anything, just a tube top type of shirt, if you can even call it a shirt.

And to make things worse, my chest didn't even fill up the top. It was just a puff of air filling it up. It sucks to be flat chested. It really does. Well, hiding behind my rock, I noticed another mermaid coming in, with a much _fuller_ chest than mine. Yeah, sure, mock me why don't you?

A red crab came face-to-face with Donald, and screamed when he saw him. Look, I know Donald is scary, but that's just his face. Wait till he gets angry, then you'll freak.

"Relax, Sebastian," said the mermaid. "They don't look like one of them. Right flounder?"

"I don't know," said a little blue and yellow striped fish, who I'm guessing is Flounder. "There's something weird about them."

Sora started to laugh nervously. "What do you mean?"

The mermaid began to swim around Sora, and started checking him out. I wasn't jealous or anything, no. the fact that she has clams for a bra doesn't add to it as well, no sire.

"They do seem...a little different," she said. "Where are you from?"

Sora began to think. "Uh...We're from kind of far away."

"And we're not really used to these waters," he said, laughing nervously. I then saw him looking around. "Hey, where's Marie?"

I turned around and laid my back on the rock, I was never ever embarrassed or shy about anything, but this was different. It was Sora, and I was barely wearing anything!

I turned to see if they were looking for me, and I came face-to-face with Sora, literally, our faces were in inch away. I blushed like crazy, and started laughing nervously.

"H-hey," I said as I scratched the back of my head. "You found me..!"

"You're acting weird," he immediately said. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," I said. Still hiding behind my rock. "Nothing at all!"

"Okay then," he said, eyes glaring at me out of suspicion. "Step away from the rock."

"Uhhh," I said, thinking of something. "No, that's alright.."

As I gave an awkward smile, I felt two skinny arms pull me away from my beloved rock. Oh the humanity! Away from my beloved rock! Ooo-

I stepped out of my whining and I looked at Sora, and I noticed he was looking at me...well not my face at least, and blushed. Geez, what a pervert. "Hey, I know I'm flat, but you don't have to look!"

Wha?" he said, he looked at my face, and blushed even more. "Oh! N-no! I wasn't looking there! I wasn't!" he raised his hands in protest, and looked really nervous and scared. I will say, he looked cute like that. But still a pervert nonetheless.

The mermaid that was checking out Sora placed her hand on my shoulder, and she smiled at all of us. "Sebastian can show you how we swim around here!"

Sebastian, the crab, looked from an angry Donald to the happy mermaid beside me. "Ariel, King Triton will not like this!"

Ariel sighed. "Oh, don't worry."

Sebastian sighed as well, and looked at us. "Easy for you to say..Okay, it's time you learn how to swim properly."

He pointed at Founder. "Practice swimming with Flounder. Try to tag him."

I sighed, I really didn't want to be here. Especially not in this get-up.

**Radiant Garden  
The past  
-x-  
Marie**

As time passed on, Marie was still placed under her coma.

She was visited by King Mickey, who was able to travel to Radiant Garden due to Xehanort opening the door that lead to the world's heart. It tore apart the world's walls, allowing inter-dimensional space travel.

Almost instantly, King Mickey felt Aqua's power in Marie. He was also able to sense a different power, a power completely belonging to Marie alone. He couldn't quite figure out what this power was, but it was filled with incredible light. Mickey placed his Keyblade, the Star Seeker, beside Marie to talk to Ansem. Marie's hand was able to touch the blade, and a small spark appeared between her and the Keyblade. Mickey and Ansem did not see this, but the little spark meant that this Keyblade, the Star Seeker, was chosen by Marie, although unintentionally, as her main blade.

Mickey, being interested, spoke with Ansem as to why Marie fell unconscious. When Ansem told him what happened, Mickey confessed that he felt she was meant to be placed into a coma. They both then began to talk about other stuff, mainly because Ansem felt too sad to talk about Marie.

A month later, Xehanort grew tired of Ansem telling him and his apprentices to cease their dangerous experiments, and decided to do the only natural thing; to dispose of Ansem. But, he figured he would do an experiment out of this, he wanted to see how Marie's heart would react when he disposed of Ansem. He sent Ienzo to check on her.

Ienzo was in the room where Marie was, he didn't like Marie much, so he could only smirk when her heart rate dropped a bit after Xehanort banished Ansem to the Realm of Nothingness. Ienzo reported to Xehanort that Marie was able to sense the loss of Ansem while in her coma, and this made Xehanort interested. He decided to write reports specially made for Marie, and to write on her progress.

But something even more interesting happened, Marie's forehead began to glow, and a heart appeared. It disappeared, but she soon began to speak in her sleep.

"Door..to..Darkness," was what she said, but more words came out. "Keyblade...Seven princesses...Heartless...will find...Kingdom Hearts...must...protect..."

The same light appeared on her forehead, and she stopped talking. Xehanort took note of this, and decided to keep Marie alive. He needed to find more information on the 'Kingdom Hearts' she was talking about.

He smiled coldly afterward, she sounded as if she were speaking in future tense, and this made his smile more evil. Yes, sure if he kept her around, he just might find out the future of his heartless.

* * *

Well, that was a lot wasn't it?  
You know what Marie is now, but she doesn't. Also, Marie is getting better at her jumps, she really is learning xD

Well, anyways, If the Atlantica scene seemed a bit cracky-crazy, it was mainly due to the fact that:

1. My uncle is extremely sick, and my mother is in constant despair.  
2. I broke up with my boyfriend. I saw him with some HOAR and to me, that says you no longer want to stay in a committed relationship, so I told him I didn't want to be with him anymore.

And I needed to write about something funny to keep my mind off of these things, and it did for a while. So sorry for it being cracky-crazy. Also, don't mind the emo-ness of the entire story either, I'm just really sad right now.

Anyway, time for thank yous.

Thank you:  
**BrooklynHiggans63**

For placing this story in your story alert list! Love you!

Now for reviews.

**cool:**  
No pressure, huh? XD  
Don't worry, I'm almost done the story, and I don't plan on leaving it incomplete.

**sajere1:**  
Thank you!  
I'm thinking of leaving out the fallen angel idea, and having her as an evil raggedy ann doll instead. The fallen angel might come in somewhere else.

And yes, the re:chain of memories sounds confusing, but it's exactly as you say it. She is there, but she isn't.  
I'll tell you now that she won't have a nobody, she had pure light in her heart, so she can't have one. The only reason Namine was created was because she was created through Sora's body and soul and Kairi's heart. Kairi has no darkness in her heart either, and if Sora didn't have her heart in him she wouldn't be able to produce a nobody. Kingdom Hearts is confusing, but you REALLLLYYYY have to read in between lines sometimes, and REALLLLLLLY pay attention.

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Yes, if I make a sequel, which will be most likely, Organization will know her. Well, some of them, Larxene, Luxord, Marluxia and Demyx won't know her. Just Roxas, Zexion, Lexaeus, Axel, Saix, Xemnas, Xigbar, Vexen, Xaldin, and Xion.

I'll have to wait till KH3 to find out about Aqua. Which I know for a doubt I would want to make a story for it.

**XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX:**  
Ahaha, fluffy ftw!  
And thank you very much, it was a little confusing, but hopefully this chapter clears it up, and tell you WAY more stuff.

**Ziddy2343:**  
Thank you for the compliment! To be honest, I'm not even a Sora fan, I'm more of a Roxas fan [Jesse McCartney!] But I'll have something in stores for him. -laughs evily-

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
Jealous Sora is jealous, it's his nature ^_-  
Thank you very much, I'll admit, I think I suck at fluff. I'm more of the angst, psychological, and tragedy type of person. O_o  
Yes, Marie is a tough girl. But it sucks when you have to deal with something by yourself, you're a lot stronger with people by your side.

Tee-hee, I'm glad you noticed. XD

**ShimmerMist:**  
Well, I'm glad you support it, usually some people get mad that we authors like to switch the love that's going around xD

xD and yea, it is lazy. Though thinking on it now, I probably wouldn't call it laziness, just a mild case of 'I-don't-care-what-you-do-ima-do-my-thang-right-har'

Sora did stand in front of it xD, I've noticed he stands in one place while passing flash backs where they're both there. So that's my theory. xD

Yes, Riku has the skill to recognize anything no matter how disfigured or horrible it is. xD

**Ruciro:**  
Yes, it's my I guess, 'trademark' to add mysteries in my stories, I do it for most of my other stories, I think. _  
Riku face-palming is awesome-beans! I shall make him do it in the story somewhere, hopefully soon.  
And yes, Sora is easily jealous as he is easily distracted.

Well, thank you guys for reading. Sorry if I was being sad or depressed in my responses to your reviews, or if it seemed like it. You guys are awesome, and your reviews make me happy! Thank you! Love you guys!


	12. Chapter Twelve: Remembrance

I've noticed that the link didn't work for some people, so I placed the picture on my profile, it's called 'Mermaid Marie'.  
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* * *

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**Chapter Twelve: Remembrance**

It took me a while, but I managed to get the hang of swimming like a mermaid. Although I sometimes tend to forget to flip my fin when I need to, or to stroke. Gosh, mermaids have it hard.

"Good job," said Sebastian. "Now let's move on to self-defense."

"Sebastian!" Ariel cried out, I looked at her, and she was pointing at a couple of fish heartless heading our way. Great, heartless, even in the sea.

"Class is over," Sebastian swam at his utmost speed, getting away from the heartless. "Good luck!"

Sebastian and Founder his themselves under some giant clam, while Ariel went to hide somewhere else.

Sora swam and lunged his Keyblade at one of the heartless, and I, although not as perfectly, did the same. There weren't a lot of heartless to begin with, so we managed to kill them of quickly.

"Those creatures chased us," Ariel said.

"Oh, no!" exclaimed Sebastian. "Those monsters might be heading for the palace, too!"

"We'd better head back right away!" Ariel said.

Founder hesitated. "But, wh-what if we run into more on our way back?"

"I'm sorry," Ariel said, looking at us. "But we need your help. Please come to the palace with us."

"Alright," agreed Sora.

We swam all the way to the palace. We ran into some heartless, but it was nothing that we couldn't handle. However, we noticed some heartless chasing us. It didn't look like a lot, so I stopped, seeing if we could get rid of them.

Oh but, noooooo. It was a massively large group of heartless chasing us, and I struggled trying to stroke my fin. Luckily Sora grabbed my hand, and lead me to the king's throne.

We made it to the throne, but the heartless still chased us. Sora and I moved to the side, and all of a sudden, a bolt of lightning from a really old looking merman got rid of the heartless. _All_ of them.

"That was too close," said the old man. "As long as I have my trident, I will not tolerate those creatures inside this palace."

"Daddy!" Ariel happily said.

"Oh Ariel," said Ariel's dad. "When will you listen? It's dangerous out there!"

"Strange creatures lurk outside," he said. Which made us feel a little uncomfortable.

Sebastian coughed. "Behold. You swim before the ruler of the sea: His Majesty, King Triton."

"And who are they?" asked Triton.

"They helped us fight off those creatures," answered Ariel. But he didn't look convinced.

"They don't look familiar," he said.

"We're from am ocean very far away," reassured Sora.

"Yup, we came to find the Keyhole," said Goofy. Oh no! Goofy! You're meddling!

"The what?" Triton asked.

"What's that?" asked Ariel.

"Well, it's a-"

"There's no such thing!" screamed Triton, which caused my to jump out of my skin."Certainly not here!"

"But, daddy-"

"Ariel, not another word!" Triton said. "You are not to leave the palace. Is that clear?"

Ariel grew angry, and left. We left after, no way am I staying in the same room with that man. When outside, Ariel looked at us. "Come to my grotto, I want to show you something. There is is, see?" she pointed to a small grotto, and so we left for there.

Once there, the sight was really pretty. There were so many wicked things on top of shelves, it was pretty neat.

"Look at all the wonderful things Flounder and I've collected," said Ariel. "I think it's from the outside world."

"Someday, I'm going to see what's out there. "I want to see other worlds. Does that sounds strange?"

"No, not at all," said Sora. Which is true, I mean, _we're_ from the outside world. "I used to feel the same way," he finished.

"Used to?" Ariel asked.

"I mean.. I still do," Sora said, covering up his little screw up.

"Hey, why don't we try looking for that Keyhole you were talking about?" asked Ariel.

Sora looked at Donald, Goofy and then me. "But your father said-"

"Oh, he treats me like a little girl," she argued. "He never wants to let me do anything."

"He just...He just doesn't understand," he finished.

I got to thinking, I remember someone who was strict with me. But not as strict as Ariel's father. The man that I remember as being strict was the... kind strict. Yea, he would tell me not to do anything bad, and would always be polite about it.

I just can't remember who that was. I...really miss him.

I felt Sora grab my hand, and I looked at him. He was smiling at me, and Ariel was at the entrance, I guess we were leaving. I followed them as we left.

**Ursula's Grotto  
-x-  
Ursula**

"Those impudent fools will never find the Keyhole," said Ursula, looking at her cauldron. Sora, Marie and Ariel appeared from it. "But the girl could prove useful."

Ariel popped out of the cauldron, and her holograph stared at Ursula. "And I've got the heartless on my side."

"Triton, my old friend," he smiled. "Your day is coming."

**Outside Ariel's Grotto  
-x-  
Marie**

Sora and Ariel were talking about what they can do to find the Keyhole, Donald and Goofy were swimming around each other, and I was just floating. Until I noticed something.

"Whoa...," I said. I swam down to a half-open chest, and I opened it. I saw a crystal trident, and I picked it up.

"Hey!" I heard Ariel say from behind, which really, really, really freaked me out. "That looks like it could fit that trident indent I have in my grotto, let's go see if it fits!"

I nodded, and we swam back to Ariel's grotto. When we were there, I took out the crystal trident and placed it in the hole. It actually fit.

"Ariel, you've disobeyed me again!" I turned around and saw Triton standing next to the door..er..opening to Ariel's grotto. "I told you not to leave the palace!"

He gasped, and saw the trident on the wall. He took out his own trident, and it glowed. Now, when I see a glowing trident I know better than anyone else that I should **MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!**

"Daddy, no!" Ariel cried out. Triton broke the crystal trident, and soon Ariel began to whimper.

"How could you.." she said. She left the grotto soon afterward.

Triton looked from his daughter to us. "You two...You're not from another ocean. You're from another world. Aren't you?"

Both Sora and I gasped. How the heck did he know?

"Then you two must be the key bearer," he continued.

"How did you know?" I asked. I really hope he wouldn't yell or anything.

"You may fool Ariel," he said. "But you can't fool me. You don't know your dorsal fin from your tail."

My what now?

"As the key bearers, you must already know," he continued. "One must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds."

"Of course we know that, but.." Sora trailed off.

"You have violated this principle," he said. "The key bearers shatters peace and brings ruin."

"Aw, Sora and Marie aren't like that," protested Goofy.

"I thank you for saving my daughter," he said. "But there is no room in my ocean for you or your keys."

Sora took out his Keyblade, and stared at it. Shatters peace and brings ruin... I don't want to bring ruin to anyone, but I somehow feel like me being here is already a curse.

**Gorge  
-x-  
Ariel**

Ariel lay weeping on top of a rock, her father destroyed something so incredibly precious to her. All she could think was how horrible her father was, he never seemed to care much about Ariel's sense of adventure, and always treated her like a child. When will he see that she is not a child, but a woman yearning to learn everything there is to know?

"My, my, the poor child suffers such deep sorrow," said Flotsam, an eel who sides with Ursula.

"What a pity, if only there were something we could do," continued Jetsam, Flotsam's twin.

"Wait. Maybe she can be of some help," said Flotsam.

"Yes. Maybe she can be of some help to you," continued Jetsam.

"Who're you talking about?" asked Ariel, a little suspicious of the two, but sounding a little interested.

"Oh, she would surely help you," Flotsam floated above Ariel. "She'd make all your dreams come true."

Flotsam and Jetsam swam above Ariel, and got higher and higher until a black smoke appeared. "Ursula can help," they both said in Unison as they disappeared.

Then all of a sudden, Ursula appeared in front of Ariel. "You called, my dear?"

"You're Ursula? I was just wondering if—"

"It's all right," interrupted Ursula. "Helping others is what I live for."

"Let me guess," she turned to Ariel. "You wish to see other worlds. That shouldn't be too hard."

"After all," she continued. "Your new friends came from another world."

"What?" Ariel asked, suddenly surprised.

"But they had special help-" Ursula sniggered. "Those mysterious keys."

"Now, now," cheered Ursula. "Cheer up, sweetie."

"You have something special, too," she smiled. "Now listen carefully."

**Radiant Garden  
the past  
-x-  
Marie**

When Xehanort had successfully created his army of heartless, and even sunk so deep into darkness that he himself turned into a heartless. He was able to retain his self-hood for uncertain reasons, which made him more dangerous.

As he was about to leave to pursue other worlds to consume, he realized that Marie was still held captive by her own coma.

He figured that she was useless now, and not wanting to carry deadweight, he decided to dispose of her. However, the same heart that glowed on her forehead before appeared. This glow was different, and it engulfed him, sending him into Marie's subconscious.

He opened his eyes, and floated above many memories that Marie had, one of them involved her home, the Destiny islands. When the memories stopped, he was facing Ansem, or at least, the image of Ansem. He did not speak nor took any action against Xehanort.

In fact, Ansem started to change into a young man, with a darker shade of blonde hair, and brown eyes. He stood there smiling.

Another person appeared behind the young man, and she had blue hair and blue eyes. Xehanort felt like he knew this person, as if she was his 'friend'. He frowned as she began to change in appearance, her hair changed into the colour of brown, and was longer. Her eye colour was the same though.

She started to smile as well, and soon, Marie appeared in between the two of them.

"Dustin, Stella," she said. "You two are the best brother and sister I could ever have!"

this scene quickly disappeared, as another appeared. And this scene, changed everything for Xehanort.

He was in this scene, standing in front of a giant door.

A young boy with brown hair and blue eyes stood in between a duck and a dog, the young boy was wielding a Keyblade. He was shouting at Xehanort not to open the door, but Xehanort obviously did not listen. He opened the door, and darkness filled him. He was able to destroy the young Keyblade wielder and his companions, and soon enough he was filled with incredible power.

Immediately, he was drawn back to Radiant Garden. Xehanort smirked evilly, this girl was proving useful again. He had to return the gift, so he left Marie inside the castle to die. It was a fitting gift, he thought.

As he left Radiant Garden, a barrier of light surrounded Marie, protecting her from any darkness or evil.

Kingdom Hearts. It is the heart of everything. It truly is a mysterious place, as it is a mysterious being. Being the heart of everything, it can also see in the future. What Xehanort saw in Marie's dream was nothing but a false vision of the future, tricking him into believing that he would gain complete power.

While in her coma, Marie had been placed in a recovery mode to recover the power that the late Xehanort stole when transferring his heart into Terra's body. Everything that she was dreaming was just a fabrication. A lie. A false vision.

Kingdom Hearts had purposely produced Marie's dream, half from her own memories, and the rest was an alternate future that Kingdom Hearts created. Dustin and Stella were manifestations of Ansem and Aqua, Canada was the manifestation of Radiant Garden and Destiny Islands. And of course, her friends Terra and Ella were also just manifestations of Riku and Cid.

None of those existed, and when Marie recovers from her coma, everything that she has dreamed of will be forgotten. In the end...all dreams are forgotten once you wake up.

**Triton's throne  
-x-  
Ariel and Ursula**

Ursula told Ariel that the Keyhole Sora and Marie were looking for was somewhere in the palace. She asked Ariel to take her to the palace without Triton knowing, and in return, she would help Ariel get to the other worlds she wanted to go.

However, her real intentions weren't so kind. Her real intention was Triton's trident.

**Triton's palace  
-x-  
Marie**

We went to the palace to see if Ariel was there, since she was the king's daughter, so we could cheer her up. When we made it to the palace we were met with a huge, ugly, looking octopus. And I really mean ugly.

"Why, we have company," said the ugly octopus. "I'm afraid you're a little late, handsome!"

…...Did she just call Sora handsome?

"Daddy!" I heard Ariel cry out for her father.

"The trident," he said, although weakly. "We must get it back."

"Come on, let's go!" exclaimed Sora. He swam for the entrance, but Ariel stopped him. "Wait, I'm going with you!" she said.

"My father is hurt and it's all my fault," she continued. "I have to stop Ursula!"

Sora nodded, and then I heard Sebastian talk. "That's right. I'm right behind you, Ariel!"

Before leaving, Triton told us that in order to stop Ursula we have to strike her cauldron with magic. Easy-peasy!

We managed to make it to Ursula's lair, although we had to kill a really huge shark to get to her. When we swam, we saw a lot of...sad looking things lying on the floor. It freaked me out, but I felt so bad for these things.

Anyway, we made it inside, and we saw Ursula hiding in her chair.

"Come out!" yelled Donald. "You can't run!"

"Your time has come!" yelled Sebastian right after.

When Ursula came out, she looked even more hideous. Donald and Sebastian screamed when they saw her, and I kinda laughed to myself.

Almost immediately, she threw a potion in her cauldron, and started attacking us with Triton's trident. We dodged, and Sora started attacking, I swam over to the cauldron and started striking it with magic. Donald also help and in soon time we managed to take down Ursula.

Her two eel sidekicks disappeared into darkness, and Ursula gasped. "You'll pay for this!" she yelled. She then left, and we followed close behind.

When we reached her, she was wearing a crown and had the trident. "You pathetic fools! I rule the seas now!"

As she raised the trident, she started getting bigger and bigger and bigger. "The seas and all it's spoils bow to my power!"

When she was done getting bigger, her face was really all I was able to see. It was that huge. Sora attacked first, as always. Ariel focused on healing us, Donald and Goofy were doing their own thing.

I was about to attack, but Ursula looked straight at me, and fired a spell at me. I flew away a few, but I recovered fine. But then she fired _yet_ another spell, and this one knocked me out good. The last thing I remember seeing was Sora swimming towards me.

**Marie's subconscious**

Oh great, this place again. What fun. What will you show me today, oh wondrous subconscious of mine?

I stood in complete light, and nothing popped up. I sighed, this was really getting on my nerves. I turned around, and suddenly, a force of light hit me. Images and scenes were suddenly filled in my head, and my body began to glow.

I suddenly began to remember things. Things like Cid, and...

Riku.

**Fight Ursula  
-x-**

**Sora**

Marie was falling slowly down to the bottom of the sea, and Sora was trying his best to get to her.

But Ursula was making that difficult for him.

She kept on casting her spells towards Sora, preventing him from swimming towards Marie. He grew utterly angry with her, and just wanted to end it all in an instant. He sighed desperately, he was going to have to deal with Ursula while Ariel tended to Marie.

"Ariel!" shouted Sora. "Take care of Marie!"

Ariel nodded, and she swam to Marie's side. She held her up from behind so she would fall any lower, and so far everything was going well. Sora had managed to block a few attacks, while Donald and Goofy were backing him up.

"Oh,"Ariel said. "I hope you're okay, Marie."

Just than, Ursula had attacked Sora quite heavily, and he had to step back a a bit. He was in a bit of pain, but Ariel couldn't heal him, for she was busy holding Marie. And Ursula didn't give Donald a chance to heal.

Marie's forehead began to glow, and Ariel noticed. A small heart appeared, and then her whole body began to glow. Sora saw from the side that Marie was rising, and her Keyblade faced Ursula. A ray of light came from the blade, and it engulfed Ursula. She fell to her doom soon afterward.

Sora swam towards Marie, catching her as she floated down. She still wasn't waking up, and this was making Sora nervous.

The trident appeared after Ursula disappeared, and Ariel went to grab it. Sora still had Marie in his hands.

**Marie's Subconscious**

I began to remember my friendship with Riku, like how we met, and all the fun times we had together. Really, I felt so happy knowing about these memories. Now, _finally_, I can tell Riku I remember! _Finally_, I can tell him I'm truly sorry for being a horrible friend.

But other than remembering about Riku, I remember the friendship that I had with Cid, I also can't wait to tell him about that. I also remember about Aqua, and Ansem, although some things about them are a bit hazy.

I still can't remember where I was when I was with Ansem, or Riku, those places are a blur to me. But the main things that I remembered right now was Riku, Cid, Aqua and Ansem. Flashbacks of them appeared, and then I saw a light. I heard someone calling for me, and then everything just blacked out.

**Triton's palace  
-x-  
Marie**

"Marie!" I heard Sora call out.

I opened my eyes, and my shoulder started to hurt. I looked around, and I was in Triton's palace.

"Ow, my shoulder," I grumbled. I began to rub my shoulder, and I looked up and I saw Sora. He looked beyond worried and concerned, and I started feeling guilty.

"I'm alright," I said. "Ursula got me bad, didn't she?" I began to laugh nervously.

Ariel jumped in between Sora and I, and she looked really happy. "We found the Keyhole! It's in my grotto!"

"Great," I said. I got up from the clam-like bed and swam to the exit. "Let's go!"

As we were swimming there, Sora swam beside me. Goofy, Donald and Ariel were swimming a little ahead of us, so this would be the perfect time to tell Sora.

"I remember Riku," I said. Sora stopped, and looked at me with surprise. He began swimming again, as he didn't want to cause a scene or stop the rest of the gang.

"Was it that attack that made you remember?" he asked.

"I think Ursula knocked some memories in me," I laughed. "I should really thank her."

"It was weird," he said. "Right when Ursula hit me with her magic, you knocked her out."

"Really!" I happily and excitedly asked. "Well, geez. How did I do that?"

"Your body was glowing, and then your Keyblade came out," he said, using his hands for dramatic effects. "And then light came out of the Keyblade and knocked her out."

"Cool," I said. Although I didn't really understand how I did it while I was knocked out, but I _did_ feel that Sora was in danger. Maybe that was it?

Well, we made it to Ariel's grotto, and when we reached the center the trident that Ariel had began to glow. It faced the trident insignia and the crystal that Triton broke before appeared. A lot of bubbles came out of the center, and then a Keyhole appeared on top of the trident. My Keyblade came out and I faced it towards the Keyhole, Sora also took out his, and then we both sealed it.

"Tell me, Sora, Marie," Ariel came towards us. "Your worlds, what's it like?"

"Oh, about that..." Sora looked at Ariel. "Sorry for lying to you."

"It's okay," she smiled. "Besides, if you can travel to other worlds, maybe I can, too."

She started swimming higher in her grotto, and looked up at the sky that was visible at the top. "So many places I want to see...I know I'll get there someday."

"I'll find a way somehow," she said. "I'm sure of it."

Ariel sure was adventurous. It made me smile, because I remember being that adventurous with Riku. That also made me smile, that fact that I could remember.

"Well, if you find it," we heard Sebastian say. "Do me a favour and leave me out of it."

I started laughing, and Sora, Donald, Goofy and I said our farewells. Although I hated saying goodbye to people I'll never see again, I was excited to see what the next world had in stores.

When we headed back to the gummi ship, Donald was all ready to head to the next world. I wanted to go to but...I wanted to see Cid.

"Can we make a stop at Traverse Town?" I asked. Donald looked at me angrily. "No! We have to find the King!" he yelled.

"Aw, come on," I whined. "I'll just be for a while!"

"NO!"

"Next stop: Traverse Town!" announced Sora as he took control of the steering wheel.

"Sora!" shouted Donald. "What are you doing? We need to find the King!"

"Yea but we need to re-stock," he said. "And I need to get something."

I heard Goofy giggling, and Donald and I gave both of them confusing and suspicious looks.

**Atlantica  
Marie's unconsciousness  
-x-  
Sora and Goofy**

How about this?" asked Sora. He was looking at a bunch of necklaces that a street vendor near Triton's palace was selling. Sora was thinking of getting Marie something to remember him when their adventure ended. He asked Goofy to come along instead of Donald, mainly because Donald was yelling that they needed to find the King as soon as possible.

Marie was still unconscious, but Triton assured that she would wake up soon. Sora was thinking about their adventure at that time, and initially, Sora didn't want to leave Marie. But he knew that they're going to, so he wanted to give her a remembrance present, so she wouldn't forget him.

"I dunno, Sora," said Goofy. "It doesn't really suit Marie."

Sora looked at the snail necklace. "Yeah, you're right."

Sora sighed out of frustration, picking out a gift for a girl was possibly the hardest thing to do.  
He felt like all the necklaces for sale seemed nice enough, but Goofy insisted that he should keep looking.

Goofy noticed Sora's frustration, and decided to say something. "Gee, Sora. Why don't you give her the necklace you have?"

Sora gave him a questioning look, until he remembered the crown necklace that he wears. Of course, since he wore that necklace all the time, Marie would surely remember him if he gave it to her. But he really liked the necklace, because it looked so cool. "But it's so cool-looking," he said.

"Then why don't you make a copy?" asked Goofy. Sora smiled, Goofy was very smart, regardless of what Donald or anyone said. He knew the perfect person who could make a copy of it, and that was Leon.

"Okay, we'll go to Traverse Town after this," Sora smiled, and raced back to Marie.

**Traverse Town  
-x-  
Marie**

So we made it to Traverse Town, and Donald shouted and yelled in anger as we made it here. Geez, I'm sure the King can handle himself, so calm down.

"Uhh," I heard Sora say. "I'll be right back. I gotta go talk to Leon about something."

He was acting a bit suspicious, but I ignored it. I had to talk to Cid about something as well. "I'll be right back as well," I said, and then I left.

It was a good thing that Cid wasn't too far away from the entrance, because I didn't feel like walking much. I saw him standing, as he was checking out some gummi pieces.

"You always did find flying to be cool or something," I said as I walked beside Cid. "I don't know about you Cid, but I wanna be friends again, like we were back home."

Cid turned around and looked at me, he looked puzzled a bit. "What're you talking about?" he said. Okay, I think I needed to explain.

"Don't you remember a little girl back where you were from?" I said, and I realized I wasn't making much sense since I don't remember the world where Cid and I met. "I don't remember everything, but I do remember us being friends. The first time we met, I bumped into you."

"Huh," was all Cid could say. And then it hit him. "OHHH, you're _that_ Marie?"

I face palmed. I guess the older you get, the more you forget.

**Traverse Town  
-x-  
Sora**

"Leon!" shouted Sora, running towards the small house Leon, Aerith, and Yuffie occupied. "Leeeooooonnnnnn!"

Sora slammed the door opened, and looked around while catching his breath. "Leon! Leon! I need your help!"

Leon turned around, and quickly took out his Gunblade. He faced Sora and stood in his fighting position.

"What's wrong? Are there heartless around?" he said, while griping his sword tighter.

"Uh, no," he said. "I need your helping making a copy of this."

Sora took off his necklace, and took out the crown from the chain. He waved it in front of Leon so that he could see.

"Wow, Leon," Yuffie said. "You're thinking _waay_ too much on the heartless."

Leon rubbed his forehead, and grabbed the crown. "Why do you need a copy of this?"

"Uhh," Sora didn't want to say anything, especially in front of another girl like Yuffie. "I just need a copy."

Yuffie noticed Sora blushing a little, and curiosity got the best of her. "Aw, come on. What's it really for? Ooh! Is it for a girl? Oh! Is it for Marie!"

Sora opened his mouth, but words didn't come out, Yuffie had asked too many questions. He laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head.

"Oh my gosh!" she yelped. "It is for Marie! So does this mean you two are dating? You're not being a bad boyfriend are you? Ooooohh! I have to call Aerith, she'll want to know this! we'll give you some tips on being a better boyfriend!"

Yuffie grabbed Sora's hand and they both left to find Aerith. Leon looked at the two leave, and a smirk appeared on his face. He looked at the crown, and proceeded to work on the copy.

**Traverse Town  
-x-  
Marie**

"Hollow Bastion?" I asked.

"Yep," he said, flicking his toothpick. "That's the name of our home. It's a shame that it's all ruined now."

"And Ansem...?" I asked.

"Ah, well," he said. "My guess is he didn't make it out safely."

My heart sank. So Ansem...Died? I was hoping to have a word with him, hoping to catch up from where we left. Hoping to call him 'brother' again. But..

"Aw, don't be sad," he said. "Maybe he isn't dead, who knows? But what's important is that you made it out alive from Hollow Bastion. Do you remember how you even escaped?"

I looked at Cid, and tried to remember. But I was only able to draw blanks, so I shook my head. I heard Cid sigh, and then he patted my back.

"It'll come to you someday, kid."

**Hollow Bastion: the past  
-x-  
Marie**

For ten years, Marie had been in a coma.

In ten years, so much has happened.

Xehanort, who now sported the name Ansem, had contacted Maleficent and now she was helping Ansem gain ultimate power. Although, she wanted some for herself as well. She had invaded Radiant Garden, now called Hollow Bastion, and all of the citizens had either lost their hearts, or managed to escape.

Maleficent did look around the castle, and noticed a young girl sleeping in a room covered by a barrier of light. She questioned what a girl like her was doing here, and when she noticed the barrier made from light, she automatically assumed she was one of the seven maidens.

However, there were reports on a nearby table, and it was labeled with the name 'Marie'. When Maleficent read it, she smirked. The report had been about how Marie was dreaming Ansem's success. She decided to keep the papers.

Somewhere else, Ansem had been reading a reports as well. Except this report was very old, and the author's name was illegible. But the context in the report forced Ansem to take immediate action.

The report was about Marie, and it was written by Xehanort from ten years ago. He stated in the report that Marie was the incarnation of Kingdom Hearts, it read that she was the ultimate key to opening the Kingdom Hearts. The report had also stated that if Marie was to lose even a small dose of power, she would need to go in recovery. During this recovery anything that she dreams or thinks of will be forgotten upon waking up.

Ansem grew anxious, and quickly tried to figure out a way to make Marie wake up early. When he thought back on her dream, he realized that she was from the same world as the princess of pure hearts, and the Keyblade wielder.

He guessed that if she was able to sense the loss of Ansem the Wise, then she would surely sense the loss of her own home, thus causing her to wake up.

And his guess was entirely true.

By the time that Sora and Marie's world was being consumed by the darkness, Marie's heart had responded to her home. And more importantly, to Sora's own heart. The simple drawing that Marie started and with Sora finishing it had a great impact on her heart.

The Paopu fruit drawing did indeed connect their destinies together, and Marie was able to sense the sadness in Sora's heart, and his plea for help. Her body began to glow, and the heart appeared on her forehead.

Kingdom Hearts had begun to erase the dream that Marie was having, however, since she awoke before her expected waking, it did not have enough time erasing her dream before waking up. She was sent to Traverse Town, and already begun her journey. Kingdom Hearts had to take drastic measures, and so begun to erase her memories along with her dream. She was not to find out about the dream, and she would have to try and remember her memories along the way.

* * *

Alright, so a lot has happened in this chapter.  
You found out how Marie was really sent to Traverse Town, and you found out why she was forgetting everything.  
And now you know that both her heart and Sora's are connected to each other.  
If you guys still feel confused please tell me, and I'll explain more as I write more.

Thank yous!

Thank you:  
**guitarqueen136**

For placing this story in your favourites and story alert list! Love you!

Thank you:  
**Chimichar**

For placing this story in your favourites! Love you too!

**XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX:**  
Thank you! I needed to add some humour to cover up the angst and mystery xD  
They will kiss soon, don't worry xD I'm just thinking _how_ they will kiss.

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
Yes, Riku is very unfair.  
And Marie isn't usually one to apologize, but when she really feels the need to, she will.  
Marie was a troublemaker when she was young. :D I love it!

Yeah, I'm concerned for my uncle, and by now I've forgotten about my ex, I have too many things on my plate already.

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Yes, Re: Chain of memories will be very intense. I doubt there will be any funny moments when I write it.  
And aww! I hate writer's block. Don't worry, just try reading some stories, or listen to music! That usually helps me out of my blocks!

**sajere1:**  
No that's not a stupid question xD  
Kairi is still a Keyblade wielder, the only difference is that her inheritance was accidental with Aqua. Marie's was intentional.

And I won't, I'll leave it. But I can't think of anything to describe the outfit, so I'll let you guys think of one when that world comes. I'll just describe her make-up and wings.

Yeah the link sucks, but I posted a link on my profile so you guys can check it out. And yes! It'll make things _very_ interesting.

And don't worry, Marie will have someone. She won't be a nobody, but I assure you she will know organization 13.

**guitarqueen136:**  
Aw, to be honest I was thinking of making it into a Roxas/Marie story. But my brain was assploding as I couldn't figure how I would write about that. And the I thought about Riku, but then I would have most likely made the story _very_ dark.  
I'm actually a Riku/Namine fan myself so...Rine?

**Ziddy2343:**  
I'm glad you like the story! And I hope this clears some things, if not just tell me! XD


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Boy talk Girl talk

I realized that in the previous chapter I wrote that Canada, along with all the other stuff Marie thought was real, never existed.  
And then I started laughing my head off! The day Canada ceases to exist is the day America has officially gone hat-less! XD

**NOW THAT I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION**

Check out my profile to view Marie's Halloween Town outfit.

* * *

**Chapter Thirteen: Boy talk. Girl talk**

"Okay, you see," Yuffie said. "Every girl loves it when a man totally gives her free materia!"

"Materia?" asked Sora. "What's that?"

"No, no!" Aerith interrupted. "Every woman loves it when a man is romantic towards her."

"Pssh, Aerith," Yuffie started. "Romantic guys are _so_ overrated."

"Materia isn't exactly a nice gift to give to a girl," she protested. "Jewelry, and flowers and chocolates are all so romantic."

Aerith gave a swooning sigh, what she would give to have a guy like that. Yuffie was making gag noises, she wasn't into the whole romantic scene. She personally didn't really think on dating, she was just interested in getting her materia.

"Er..." Sora looked at the two girls. "So which one will Marie like?"

Both girls looked at Sora, and realized that he was still there, looking as confused as ever. They both began to think of the type of guy that Marie would be interested. When Yuffie gave up, Aerith had an idea.

"We'll ask Marie what her type of guy is!" she shouted. Yuffie raised her fist. "Of course! She should know!"

Aerith face-palmed Yuffie for saying something as stupid as that. "We'll look for her right now."

"Okay," agreed Sora. "I'll go see if Leon is done with that necklace."

"So it _is_ for Marie!" exclaimed Yuffie. "Oh, you two make such a cute couple!"

Sora blushed, and quickly left the room to find Leon. Yuffie still made lovey dovey faces, and Aerith merely smiled. She always did know that those two would somehow be together.

**The past:  
-x-  
Maleficent and Ansem**

"She needs to remember that dream," Ansem said. "If she doesn't, she may forget how to even open the door."

"Not to worry," Maleficent said. "We've prepared letters from the two people dearest to her. As long as she keeps these letter, she'll remember."

"You had better hope so," Ansem said coldly. "Take any opportunity to get her. if she continues to travel with the Keyblade wielder, she'll begin to remember. I suspect that she is somehow connected to him."

"Of course," Maleficent smirked. "We can't afford to be harmful towards her. We need to gain her trust after all."

Ansem left to go somewhere else, and Maleficent stayed at her hideout smiling ever so mischievously. Marie looked like a challenge, but challenges are no fun if they're hard.

**The present:  
-x-  
Maleficent**

Maleficent stood in front of a table, and was looking at the remaining reports on Marie. Originally, there was three. But since Riku managed to steal one and give it to Marie, only two remained.

Maleficent threw the remaining two reports in her fireplace, she knew Riku wouldn't try to give them to Marie, since he now holds the power of darkness, but she still had some doubts. By throwing them into the fire, Riku would never be able to get them.

Ansem had appeared in her hideout. Maleficent merely closed her eyes, and smiled as he stared at her back.

"We need to change plans," he said. "The girl has already begun to remember some of her memories."

"What do you suppose we do, then?" Maleficent asked.

"Have your lackeys try and take her," he said. "If they cannot, leave it to the boy. Since she now remembers him, he might be able to persuade her to go along with him."

Ansem stared a bit, and then disappeared.

Maleficent stared at the fire, and slyly smirked. "I fear that boy _might_ have other plans."

**Traverse Town:  
Marie**

"So you don't remember where you're from?" Cid asked.

"I don't know whether I'm from Riku's world, or from yours," I said.

"Who's Riku?" Cid asked again.

"He's Sora's-" I stopped myself, Riku wasn't just Sora's friend. He was mine as well.

"He's Sora's friend...as well as mine," I said.

"Well, you're on the right track to rememberin'," said Cid. "Just give it a little more time, you managed to remember something so far."

that was true, I did remember something. And honestly, remembering people first is a lot more better than remembering worlds or such. Although, there were some other people I needed to remember.

"Well, anyways," Cid started. "Let's go over to Leon and the others, they might be able to know something."

I nodded, and walked over to Leon's place.

**-x-**

We made it to Leon's place, and...Leon wasn't there.

"Where's Leon?" asked Cid. Aerith and Yuffie were huddling up and talking among themselves, while Donald and Goofy were talking to each other. I almost forgot Sora and I left them when he came. Hehe...

Aerith and Yuffie turned around and their eyes grew big suddenly.

"Oh!" exclaimed Yuffie. "He's over at the Gizmo shop. You three can go over there, but we need to talk to Marie!"

"What? Why're you makin' me go with these two?" he asked, pointing at Donald and Goofy.

Yuffie and Aerith came running towards us. Aerith grabbed my hand and pulled me further into the house, and Yuffie pushed Cid, Donald and Goofy out the door. He was muttering some rather nasty words, but I couldn't hear the rest, fortunately.

"Well, now that he's gone," Yuffie sighed. "We need to ask you some questions."

"Yes," Aerith looked at me with a serious expression. "Some questions."

I was feeling a bit uncomfortable, they were both acting super serious. And I was scared that maybe I was in trouble or something. Great, if I'm not getting killed by heartless, I'll be getting scolded at by two older woman.

"Alright," Yuffie said. "First question."

"W-which is..?" I nervously asked.

"If you had a boyfriend, what type would he be?" Aerith suddenly brightened up, and Yuffie started squealing.

I was utterly confused as to what just happened.

**Gizmo Shop:  
Sora, Leon and Cid**

"Are you done yet?" asked Sora, who, was a little impatient. He wanted to give Marie the necklace as soon as possible.

"If you ask one more time, I'll be done with you," Leon threatened. He was finishing off the thin gold chain that the crown, which was gold, would attach to. Leon decided to make the crown gold, it looked a little more feminine that way, and it was a little fun to see Marie with a gold necklace while Sora had the silver one.

Donald, Goofy and Cid walked in the gizmo shop. Cid was still muttering some unpleasant words. Mainly towards Yuffie. Donald and Goofy just simply laughed at him secretly. Well, Donald mostly laughed.

"What the heck are you two doin'?" he asked. Biting hard on his toothpick.

"Sora wanted a copy of his necklace," Leon smirked. "It's for Marie."

"Geez, Leon," Sora said. "You don't have to tell the whole world!"

Donald started laughing at Sora's shyness, and Goofy smiled. Although Donald and Goofy had to hang around when Sora and Marie got all cute with each other, they too thought a little romance would happen between them.

Cid chuckled as well, and sat down. He threw out the toothpick he had, and got out another one. He looked at the progress of the necklace, and it was turning out very nicely.

Leon had finished the necklace, and it was very nicely done. A smaller version of the crown Sora had, attached to a think golden chain. If Leon wasn't fighting off heartless, this could very well be the start of a new career.

"Huh," realized Cid. "You like Marie?"

Sora. Donald, Goofy _and_ Leon face-palmed Cid. They guessed it was true what people say: the older you get, the more oblivious you are.

**Leon's place:  
Marie**

"Um," I said, trying to think. "I really don't have a type, just as long as they're themselves."

"What?" Yuffie gasped. "That's so _boring_."

"Now now, Yuffie," Aerith said. "I like that type very much, Marie."

"Yea," I said. "But I think I'm to young to date."

"Well," Aerith started. "You'll start when you feel comfortable enough."

Yuffie nodded, and I sighed. I don't really know when I'll start dating, but when I do, I hope my first boyfriend isn't a jerk.

"Oh, hey!" Yuffie shouted. "Leon, Cid and Sora are coming this way!"

"Oh?" Aerith got up and ran to the window. "Donald and Goofy are with them as well."

"You two look like peepers spying from a window," I said. They were bending down in front of the window, and looking at the guys. Seriously, they were acting weird.

Aerith and Yuffie stepped away from the window, and stood near me. Leon, Cid and Sora came in, and Donald and Goofy came in afterward.

There was a slight awkward silence, and I was finding this to be _very_ suspicious. Somehow I got the feeling that everyone knew something but me. I was not going to tolerate this.

"Okay, what gives?" I said. Everyone looked at me. "Why is everyone acting weird all of a sudden? First the girl talk, now the awkward silence? Something's going on here, and I demand to know the truth!"

Sora looked really awkward, Aerith and Yuffie tried to refrain from squealing, and Leon had a smirk on his face. Cid flipped his toothpick, and Donald and Goofy were giggling.

"Well," Yuffie said. "We'll leave you two lovebirds alone!"

"Yuffie!" shouted Sora, who now had a blush on his face.

Okay well," she started pushing everyone out of the room. "Have fun!"

the door slammed shut, and I was staring at a very nervous and blushing Sora. I sighed and I walked towards him.

"Are you okay?" I asked. "You've been acting funny since we got here."

"aw," was what he said first. "I was hoping to do this in a more prettier place. But, I guess here will do."

I gave him a questioning look, and he started grabbing out something. When he took out a golden necklace with a small crown attached to it, I had a feeling that this was why he was acting so weird.

"This is for you," he said. He handed me the necklace, and I looked at it. It was very nicely made, and it looked really pretty. I looked over to Sora, and I smiled. "What's this for?"

"So you don't forget me," he said. "After we seal the Keyholes, and find Riku, we'll go back to our worlds."

I looked at him, and I noticed that he had the same necklace. Except his was bigger and silver. I looked at the necklace one more time, and then I placed it around my neck. I started thinking on what Sora had just said, I really didn't want to depart from him. I didn't even want to depart from Donald and Goofy, we're a team for sakes! We can't break up!

"Thank you, Sora," I said, although sadly. "It's really pretty."

I looked at the necklace again, surely this won't be the last time we'll see each other, right? I wasn't sure which world I was from, whether it was Sora's or Ansem's. I didn't want to say I was from Sora and Riku's island, because it could build up hope for the both of us, and what happens to that hope if I'm not from their world?

"Sora?" I asked. "What if...what if I was from your world?"

Sora looked at me, and his eyes gleamed with hope, much like how I suspected. "Well, we don't know, right?"

I nodded, and he continued speaking. "Yeah, so, no matter where you're from, that necklace is yours forever."

I smiled sincerely at Sora. No matter how messed up things may be, he always had a strong heart for things. Which is probably one of the things I like about him, and the fact that he's very true to himself.

"Okay," I said. "Let's go to the next world."

Sora nodded, and we left to go outside. Although, it should be noted that in Traverse Town, there really isn't a place that's private.

Leon, Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, Donald and Goofy were leaving against the doors and windows, listening to our conversation. We both sighed out of frustration, and they all started laughing nervously, even Leon.

"Well," said Donald. "We should head out."

Donald grabbed Goofy and ran towards the exit. Cid started laughing out loud, and ruffled our hair, and then he left. Leon merely stood there, while Aerith and Yuffie were squealing and looking at my necklace.

"You were right," I said as I looked at Sora. "You should have done this at another location."

**The past:  
Kingdom Hearts**

As time passed, Marie had quickly forgot most of her dream.

As time passed, Kingdom Hearts had totally erased that little information that Marie gave to Aerith, Yuffie and Leon about how she ended up in Traverse Town.

Sora, Donald and Goofy knew only little information, such as Dustin and Stella, but even that had to be erased. It was crucial that no one knew about the events that went on in Marie's subconscious, even if it was minor details. Kingdom Hearts did not want anyone to know of the false future that Marie had dreamed of. it was hard enough that Xehanort, or 'Ansem', knew about it, because his original self was able to use it's power. This passed on even to his heartless.

As far as anyone knew, Marie didn't know where her home is. And that was what everyone had in their heads. Dustin, Stella, or Earth did not exist to anyone.

**Halloween Town:  
Marie**

"Whoa!" Sora shouted.

"What are you shouting about-"

I looked at Sora, his outfit completely changed. He looked like a vampire. I looked over to Donald and Goofy, their outfits changed as well, Donald is a mummy cut in half, and Goofy is a Frankenstein monster.

I looked down at my outfit, nothing too scary. But then I felt a slight pressure on my back, and I rubbed it. When I touched my back, I felt a bunch of feathers.

"Oh, cool!" I said. "I have wings!"

"Yeah, but one of them is tied," I heard Donald say. I went to feel the other wing, and it was tied up. Aw man, does this mean I can't fly?

"It still looks cool," I heard Sora say. He smiled, and looked around.

"This sure is a spooky place," commented Goofy. "I'll bet the people here are scary-lookin' too."

"Don't worry," Donald reassured. "If they scare us, we'll scare them right back!"

"You think so?" asked Goofy.

I looked around, this place was incredibly spooky. Of course, it's nothing we can't handle. Sora began walking ahead, and we followed behind. We reached what looks like the town square, and a black smoke appeared from one of the chimney's of a house.

Then suddenly, ghost heartless appeared. Sora and I began to attack them, but when my blade and I went through them, I landed on the floor.

"What the heck?" I asked. "What's going on.

"And now, allow me to introduce the master of terror," I looked over and saw a small man with a tall hat announcing something. "The king of nightmares—Jack Skellington!"

The heartless ghosts lined up, and then started pointing their hands towards a very tall and very boney, well he is a skeleton, man rising up from a cauldron.

"Brave, Jack!" the little man with the tall hat ran towards Jack. "Bravo!"

"Those ghosts will be a big hit at this year's Halloween!" he continued.

"Thank you," Jack said as he got out of the cauldron. "Thank you!"

"But their movement still needs work," he continued. "It's not scary enough. I want to strike bone-chilling terror. I'm going to consult the doctor."

"Then I'll go attend to the decorations," said the tall hat-wearing small guy.

As he left, I noticed he had another face on the back of his face...err...did that mean he was two-faced?

I was thinking on what Jack had said, about striking bone chilling terror. I've never been afraid of ghosts, zombies, or anything scary. What really scares me is being left alone, I don't handle that very well. In fact, I actually remember one time I was left alone when I was with Ansem.

**Flashback:  
Marie**

"Ienzo, you dummy!" Marie cried out, running around Radiant Garden. "Where are you!"

When Marie was first brought into Ansem's castle, she had developed a little crush on Ienzo. They would sometimes leave the castle on their own, even though they weren't allowed. Marie didn't know anyone except Ansem and his apprentices, and she was hoping to get to know the man named Cid, since she had said hi to him. It would be rude to not talk after introducing and saying hello to another.

But today had started off awful, normally, when Ienzo and Marie left the castle, they always stuck close to each other. As far as they both knew, they were only friends, neither close or distant, regardless of Marie's crush on him. But all of that changed.

"Ienzo!" she cried out again, this time, a little frightened. She was scared that the man who kidnapped her, Xehanort, would come back to take her again.

She ran tirelessly around Radiant Garden, hoping to see Ienzo, or even Even. But when people that she didn't recognize started appearing, Marie had begun to fear what was happening.

"Well, well," said a corrupted man. "What are you doing here, _girl_?"

The man grabbed Marie's wrist, and held on tightly. Marie had started to panic, and tried to escaped the man. She even tried kicking him, but when she did, she just received a hard slap from him.

"Don't you know how to respect your elders?" he snarled. Marie screamed, but the man slapped her yet again, and tugged her arm harshly. He started walking somewhere, grabbing Marie along with him.

Marie struggled to get herself out of the man's grip, but she was still little, and didn't have much power against him. When the moving stopped, Marie looked ahead and noticed Aeleus and Dilan standing in front of man. Ansem finally came into view, and looked quite angry.

"I will not tolerate this inappropriate behavior," he said to the man. "I do not need you corrupting these beautiful world and it's people."

"Wait, sir!" the corrupted man yelled. "I wasn't doing anything, I swear!"

"Take him away," Ansem said. Aeleus and Dilan took the man away, and Ansem looked at Marie, although not as angry as he was with the corrupted man.

"You disobeyed me and left the castle," he said. "I told you millions of times not to."

"I'm sorry," Marie said apologetically. "I'm just bored at home."

Ansem sighed, and looked at Marie. "If you need to walk around, then I'll have Aeleus or Dilan supervise your walks."

Marie nodded, and walked with Ansem all the way back to the castle. It turned out that Ienzo had told Ansem that Marie was still outside the castle. They both had disobeyed Ansem, and they both had apologized.

Of course, Ienzo didn't apologize to Marie. Secretly, he disliked her the moment she walked into the castle. He liked being the youngest one, and he wanted it to stay that way. So purposely, he left Marie on her own. He really only became friends with her because he was just bored.

Marie didn't know about his dislike for her, but she didn't talk to him after this incident. She forgave him, even though he didn't apologize. But she of course wouldn't forget, and thus created the little bickers and fighting that these two eventually got into.

**Halloween Town:  
Marie**

We followed Jack and made our way into the research lab where the 'doctor' was. We hid behind a wall. I took a peek and the room was filled with machines and beds and all that technical stuff. I noticed a heartless ghost sleeping on the bed in the middle. We heard voices begin to speak.

"I don't understand," we heard Jack say. "Maybe the guidance system was damaged in the explosion."

"Nonsense," said the man in the wheelchair, who I'm presuming is the doctor. "My devices are always perfect!"

"Oh, I've got it!" exclaimed Jack. "Why of course! The heartless need a heart!"

"Doctor, do you think we can add a heart to that device?" asked Jack.

"Certainly," the doctor said. "A heart's not all that complicated. Let's get to work."

"To make a heart," Jack read from a book. "First take a container with a lock."

The doctor took out a container with a lock, and examined it. "We need the key to this thing first!"

I looked over to Sora, and he was thinking. I looked over to Donald and Goofy, who also looked at Sora.

"You're really gonna unlock it for them?" asked Donald, predicting that Sora was going to anyways. I wasn't so sure about unlocking it, but I guess if Sora's sure then it's okay.

"Why not?" Sora protested. "If they succeed, we won't have to fight the heartless. Besides, I want to see the heartless dance, too."

"Don't you?" he asked Donald.

"Not really," he replied. I sighed, typical Donald and not being interested in anything.

Sora walked up to the container and unlocked it. We heard footsteps, and noticed Jack walking up to us.

"My!" he said. "That was amazing!"

He looked at all of us, and then gave a confused look. "Uh, and you are..?"

"Sora, and this is Donald, Goofy and Marie," he said while pointing at us. I gave a smile and waved.

"Well done, Sora!" Jack congratulated him. He looked at Sora, and then looked at me. He smiled and walked towards us. "I'd like for both of you to be part of this year's Halloween."

"What's this heartless doing here?" asked Sora, completely ignoring the offer that Jack was offering.

"Oh," Jack said. "The heartless came to town just recently."

"What's frustrating is I can't get them to dance with me," he continued. "So the doctor and I are trying to improve the guidance system."

Jack walked over the doctor, and pointed at him. "He's quite a genius."

"Okay, doctor," Jack said. "Let's continue."

"The ingredients for a heart: Pulse," Jack pointed to towards a frog who was pulsing...ew.

"Emotion, terror," he pointed at a spider. "Fear." the doctor scratched a chalk board, creating a screeching noise.

"Hope and despair," Jack pointed at two snakes with different colours. "Mix them all together, and we have a heart!"

the doctor wheeled towards a lever, and pushed it down. Electricity started circulating all the heartless, and then the heartless began to rise. The more I watched, the more familiar I felt about this. When the electricity stopped, the heartless fell back to bed, and refused to get up. Yep, this definitely looks familiar.

"It failed!" shouted the doctor, he sighed and read over the book. "Maybe we're missing some ingredients. Let's try adding memory."

It suddenly hit me, I remember I was placed under a table when I was with Ansem. He was experimenting...about the darkness in people's heart. I was paired up with someone, but _that_ was a blur. I couldn't remember who was in the room.

"Are you okay?" I hear Sora ask. I looked at him, and was a little confused why he was asking me that.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" I asked. He looked down at the floor, and then back at me.

"It kinda felt like you were sad or something," he said. I raised my brow, I _was_ feeling a little down when I thought if Ansem, but I definitely didn't show it.

"Sally! Sally!" shouted the doctor, drawing me out of my thought. "Good-for-nothing girl!"

"Don't know why I bothered creating her!" he shouted. That was a little rude. "Sally's not the memory we need," he continued. "See if you can track her down."

"No problem," assured Jack. "Sora, Marie, would you guys like to come along?"

"Sure," we both said in unison. I quickly looked at him, we had never said anything in unison before. It was a little weird but, I kinda understood how he said he could feel me being said. I felt him about to respond, so I did too.

When we left the lab, we saw the two-faced man running towards us. "Jack! Jack! We have a major crisis!"

"The heartless are completely out of control!" He shouted. "We can't stop them!"

"Hmm," Jack thought. "Maybe our experiment triggered something. Everything will be fine, Mayor."

Well, now I know the guys name.

"You have nothing to worry about," Jack reassured. I noticed Donald tapping his feet at Jack. We walked to the nearest area, and that was the graveyard.

When we reached there, there was a horde of heartless. It took us some time, but with the help of jack we were able to get rid of them quite easily. We walked deeper into the graveyard, and Jack stopped in front of a tombstone. At first, I thought, he was going to say a prayer to someone he potentially lost, but then a ghost dog appeared. Of course, this is Halloween Town, I wouldn't have expected less.

"Zero! Have you seen Sally anywhere?" Jack asked Zero. Zero floated all the way to a nearby statue of a gargoyle, and behind it, was a woman who was all stitched up.

"Is something wrong, Jack?" asked the woman.

"No, everything's going great, Sally!" Jack exclaimed. "We're going to have the best Halloween ever."

"All we need now is your memory," he finished.

"'Memory'? You mean this?" The woman now known as Sally, took out a forget-me-not withered flower. However, the flower still had some of the petals on it.

"Jack, I have a bad feeling about this," warned Sally. To be honest, so did I. It was part of the reason why I didn't offer to unlock the container-heart thingy.

"Why don't you try something else?" she asked. "There's still time."

"Nothing could beat what I've got planned!" Jack exclaimed. He sure was happy about his plan. "Once we give the heartless a heart, they'll dance just as I envision it."

Sally didn't look to convinced, and rubbed out neck out of discomfort. Jack looked at her, and smiled. "Trust me. You're going to love it!"

Jack and Sora went ahead and left. Donald, Goofy and Zero followed shortly after, Sally still didn't look to convinced, but followed nonetheless. I stood here for a moment with my arms crossed together, I was thinking about Riku. I hope he was alright.

**Graveyard:  
Shock, Lock and Barrel**

As Marie left to the doctor's lab, giggling was heard from the coffin that laid in between everything. It opened, and three little children popped out.

"Lock!" shouted a devil looking child.

"Shock!" shouted a child dressed as a witch after.

"Barrel!" Shouted the skeleton boy.

"Did you hear that?" asked Barrel.

"Yeah, I sure did! A heart!" exclaimed Lock. "What should we do?"

"Gosh, you really are stupid," said Shock. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Tell Oogie Boogie!" suggested Barrel.

The three of them huddled together and started laughing mischievously.

**Doctor's lab:  
Marie**

"Yes, this is it," said the doctor, looking at the forget-me-not. "Now, just one more ingredient."

"We need 'surprise' to complete the heart," he said again. "The mayor should know where it is."

**Oogie Boogie hideout:  
Lock, Shock, Barrel, and Oogie**

"A heart?" asked Oogie, giggling as the word seeped through his lips.

"That bonehead Jack is really making a heart?" he asked again, laughing louder and harder this time. "I'll be jiggered! That works for me!"

"Ohh, when I get my hands on that..." he looked down to what normally would be hands. "Well, I've got no hands."

"But I'm still gonna nab that heart and control the heartless," he said. "And of course that cute little button, Marie!"

Oogie burst into fits of laughter at that last statement. Sometimes his sarcastic ways made him feel like he was a _very_ funny sack.

**Graveyard:  
Marie**

We went back to the graveyard after jack telling us that the mayor was there. Surprisingly enough, the heartless here were a little weaker than the ones we've beaten in previous worlds. I don't know why that was. Maybe they're scared of Halloween Town? Ha, that would be funny.

"Here you go," I heard the mayor say. He handed Jack a 'jack-in-the-box', and then we headed back to the doctor's lab. Along the way, I couldn't help but think a little more on Riku.

"You okay?" I heard Sora ask.

"Not really," I said. "I'm a little worried about Riku."

"Oh," he replied, although it sounded a bit sad. "He's on the wrong side, and I don't understand why."

"maybe we don't have to understand why," I said. "He needs light, he needs _us_."

"Yea, you're right," he said. I felt his hand grasp mine. "He needs us."

Sora and I walked to the Doctor's lab hand-in-hand. For a creeping place like this, the air was just so romantic right now.

**-x-**

"There you go," said the doctor, who finished making the heart. "This time it's sure to work."

The doctor wheeled over to the heartless, but then he tripped over a little boy who was dressed up as a skeleton. The doctor fell to the floor, making the heart fall. I quickly went to grab it, but a little boy dressed as a devil caught it, and then the little boy dressed as the skeleton, along with a little girl dressed as a witch ran out of the room laughing.

Ugh, did I ever tell you that snot-nosed kids like them drive me insane? No? Well, now you know. I ran outside, and Sora followed not to long after. When I was outside, there was no sight of those three, ooh, they're really getting on my nerves.

"We lost them," Sora said in frustration. Jack looked around, and then patted his knee. The ghost dog from before, Zero, floated towards Jack.

"Zero, after them, quick!" said Jack.

We followed Zero, and we managed to catch up to those brats. They were crossing some really weird looking hill, so we followed close behind. Eventually, we made it to a big manor, that looked really creepy and scary at the same time.

"I Knew Oogie Boogie was behind this!" shouted Jack. Pfft, what kind of name is Oogie Boogie?

"Well, it looks like we have to go up to see," Donald said.

"That means we're going to climb stairs?" I asked. They all looked at me, and nodded. Horror filled my body.

"Noooooooooo!"

* * *

I thought I would add in the little moment of how Ienzo and Marie started disliking each other. Her first crush hated her guts, how sad.

Other than that there wasn't much to cover, and after this world comes Neverland. That's when the real drama begins!

Also, sorry for the late update. To be honest, I had a bit of writer's block, and the reason was because my friend told me to read some story called '**My Immortal**' by a girl named **Tara Gillespie**. I don't mean to be rude or anything, but that story...er...well, it really turned down the mood to write for a while. I advise you **NOT** to read it. It's really unbearable, regardless if it was a girl trolling or not.

Thank you:  
**Amy-chan123  
dedichan  
**  
For placing this story in your story alert list. Much love!

Thank you:  
**Keyformer  
Tiercho  
**  
For placing this story in your favourites. Much love as well!

**Reviews:**

**XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX:**  
I actually had one, I bought it at an anime expo here in Canada. But silly me lost it. :(  
And thank you! I think I suck at writing it, but you seem to think otherwise, so thank you! XD

**Ziddy2343:**  
Sorry if it's a little confusing. :(  
Oh wow, fish stuffed with bricks XD I actually had fish today.  
Oh and yeah I did know, I think I said it in the chapter. I'll have to read if I did, but basically he transfers his heart into Terra's body using some power from Kingdom hearts. If I wrote something differently, tell me! XD  
and thank you! That's very nice of you to say!

**sajere1:**  
I love Yuffie's reaction as well, she's such a teen!  
And well, she'll only know half of the organization, since most were Ansem's apprentices and guards, and others were residents in Radiant Garden. But if you still want to know, I am thinking of doing 358/2, although it won't, but at the same time, will have Marie in it.

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
I like it, but really, it's your story. So you can come up with anything, and I'll still like it.

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
Yeah, Marie is remembering very slowly. And isn't it cute? Although Sora had to go through other necklaces. XD

Oh no! When you say Mary, it makes me think Mary-sue. DX I hope Marie isn't Mary-sue to you or anyone who reads this story.

I have glasses, and they are irritating sometimes. But I look really Asian with them on, and people ask if I'm fully Asian. I have some Korean blood, but I'm mainly Hispanic.

**Ruciro:**  
Hey! Well, I would like to present you a chapter with lot's of face-palming action! Yuffie and Aerith are to me, such girly girls. XD But I love them!

**Tiercho:**  
Ooh, I actually listened to that song, and some parts do fit in the story.  
I love Linkin Park a lot too, so I find it so happy that you pointed that out. XD


	14. Chapter Fourteen: The heart of all heart

**Chapter Fourteen: The heart of all hearts**

"I don't see how anyone can climb up these stairs!" I complained as we walked up the stairs. "call me fat, but I really don't feel like walking anymore."

Sora was downright laughing at me, and so were Donald and Goofy. Hey, it's not funny! I really can't stand stairs, they're so exhausting!

"Well, now," I heard Jack say. "We're almost there."

"How much is almost?" I asked.

"about halfway," he replied.

"WHAT!" I shouted. No, this will not do. I don't see why Oogie Boogie can't come out and fight like a true villain. I stopped and looked ahead, there were so many stairs. Ugh, so...many...stairs.

I heard, Sora, Donald and Goofy bursting out into fits of laughter. Why are they laughing at my misery! Gah! I officially hate this world. _officially._

"Hey look, I found an elevator," Sora pointed out a little stand-like thing that looked like an elevator. Okay, so I officially don't hate this world. _officially._

"Let's take it," I happily said. We all ran towards the elevator, and got on. Despite it's size, it looked like it was extending itself so that all of us could fit on it. This Oogie Boogie definitely has a weird manor.

We made it to what would seem the second last level. I looked around, and I saw stairs. Oh joy, just when I thought the stairs would end. I take back what I said, I _officially_ and _completely_ hate this world.

So, we made our way up the stairs, much to my displeasure, and reached a playroom. Those three little kids were there, and they threw the heart into a garbage chute type of thing. They giggled and started attacking us.

Now, I've never hit a child before, and I don't really know if I should. I mean yea they were evil, but they're still children.

"Betcha can't catch me, ugly!" I heard the little witch girl say to me. "Your costume's even ugly!"

Okay scratch that, these little runts are getting the beating of their life. I took out my Keyblade and attacked the girl, she was pretty fast, and she knew how to cast magic. But this wasn't going to stop me, this little witch called my outfit ugly!

"Thunder!" I shouted. I managed to strike the girl, and she fell. Sora managed to knock out the devil boy, and Donald and Goofy took out the skeleton kid.

We tied them up, and I glared at them. Now I know how an adult feels when a kid starts annoying the heck out of them. Jack gave a disappointing look to them, and then sighed.

"We were just following orders!" said the witch. "Oogie Boogie told us to steal the heart, It's all Barrel's fault!"

"It was his idea to tell Oogie Boogie about the heart!" she pointed at the skeleton kid.

"Yeah, that's right!" cried the devil kid.

"B-but you guys said-" Barrel was interrupted by the witch kid as she told him to shut up.

I looked around, and I noticed a door with the sign 'Oogie Manor' on it. I tugged on Sora's short and he looked towards the door. Donald, Goofy and Jack all followed close behind Sora and I as we walked in.

when we walked in the room, there was a giant roulette wheel in the middle. There was a lot of bright colourful colours as well, and right underneath some sack thing was a slot machine. Everything else was just dark and morbid looking.

"Oogie Boogie," Jack pointed at the Sack thing...That's Oogie Boogie? A sack? Well, this fight should flow through smoothly. "Give me back the heart!" Jack yelled.

"You want it?" asked Oogie, who was holding onto the heart. "Well, then come on over and get it!"

Oogie managed to swallow the heart, and it was a little gross, I mean, how does a sack digest things? Anyways, I heard Jack gasp, and then Oogie started laughing.

"Now," he continued, fully stopping his laughter. "Let's see if I can get their attention."

"Oh, Heartless!" he shouted. Two flying heartless appeared beside him, and he had a dumbfound look on his face. "This is it?"

"Nobody disrespects me!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Nobody!"

Suddenly, Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jack were pushed into the roulette wheel. I literally walked three steps forward until a huge cage crashed on top of me, locking me inside. It started to move along some railroad tracks, and soon enough I was caged beside Oogie.

"What the heck?" I said in confusion. "Let me out of here, you stupid sack!"

"Ooh, that hurt!" he said. He then started laughing. "Not!"

"You're really annoying," I said. The sack called Oogie turned around and smiled mischievously at me. I stuck out my tongue at him, and tried to get out of the cage. I looked over at Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jack, they were fighting off the heartless and trying to avoid anything that Oogie was throwing at them.

"Marie! Hold on, I'll get you out!" Sora shouted. I looked over and I saw him running around the roulette wheel, avoiding a bomb Oogie threw. Why was I trapped in a cage? I wanted to fight with Sora and the others!

"Hahaha!" I heard the sack of stupid say. "Maleficent's gonna be so happy when she finds out _I_ was the one who was able to get you!"

"What do you mean?" I asked. He finished throwing a bomb, and turned his head towards me.

"Well, my little cuteness of nothing," he joked. "You're the key to opening some powerful door, it's something that witch Maleficent wants."

He started laughing again, and threw more bombs at Sora and the others. My mind was on what Oogie said, I was the key to opening a door? But how? I don't know anything about opening a door! I started to sigh, it seems learning about Riku, Ansem and Aqua wasn't enough to figure out who I am.

Oogie got me out of my thoughts as he screamed. I looked over to him and he started spilling out bugs, worms, and everything related to them, which was a little gross. He was literally filled with them, a sack full of bugs. He fell until he was nothing but an empty sack. The heart was the only thing that was there besides the sack.

"So, that heart was a failure after all," Jack said.

The cage I was in disappeared, and I immediately ran towards Sora. I wrapped my arms around him, and just stayed there hugging him. I wasn't really worried about him, because I knew he would come out of the battle unscratched. But after what I heard from Oogie, I just needed someone to hug.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his arms were around me now. "You don't look too good."

"I guess I was..." I closed my eyes and rested my head on his shoulders. "I guess I was a little scared."

He started giggling softly, and rubbed my back. "Don't worry, I won't let anything scare you," he comforted.

I parted from him, and we both smiled at each other. I then heard tapping, and I turned around and saw Donald tapping his feet. "You guys make me sick," Donald said while walking ahead.

"Uah, but Donald, you're like that with Daisy," Goofy said.

"That's different!" Donald shouted.

Sora, Jack and I started to laugh, and then we proceeded to leave the room. When we were outside, I remembered that we would have to climb down stairs...great. Sora walked ahead of us, and then we started to feel the floor rumble. Oh great, what's happening now?

"What's happening?" Sora asked. We looked around and saw that the manor was moving, Sora was holding onto something, as well as the rest of the guys. I looked around to grab something, but then all of a sudden, a branch or stick or _something_ knocked me off the ledge. I heard Sora screaming out my name, and then I fell off the manor.

When you fall from something so high, you never really realize that everything feels like it's slowing down. I was panicking, of course. What was up with all these surprises? I really don't like them. I tilted my head up, and I felt myself slowing falling into death. No, this couldn't be! I can't die now! Not when things are like this!

_'You're my guardian angel, so now I'll be yours.'_

I heard Aqua's voice and then, all of a sudden, my forehead began to glow. It felt warm and then next thing I knew, I saw the wrappings around one of my wings float above me. They disappeared, and I began to think, my wing is free, I can fly now!

Without a second to think, I tried pushing so my wings would come out. Nothing was happening though, and then I really started panicking, these wings are dysfunctional! I closed my eyes and pictured myself flying, if only it were possible though.

….and oddly enough, it was. My wings suddenly spread open, and I was floating in inch from the floor. Oh thank god! I managed to float a inch before my death. I landed on the floor, and I was now at the base of Oogie's manor. So, I had to think of me flying in order to actually fly, no problem. I began to think of myself flying, and then I floated again. My wings began to flap and I was in the air in no time, now I had to check on Sora.

**Oogie Manor:  
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jack**

"Marie!" shouted Sora. "Marie!"

Sora was leaning towards the ledge hoping to see if Marie didn't fall all the way down. Donald, Goofy and Jack looked around as well, until they noticed dark little balls around the manor.

"Look, it's brimming with the power of darkness!" Jack shouted. "Oogie Boogie is drawing power from those dark globs!"

"So we just have to destroy those things?" asked Sora. "What about Marie? We have to get her!"

"But we have to defeat Oogie!" Jack exclaimed.

"But, Marie!" Sora pleaded desperately. He wanted to defeat Oogie and keep Halloween Town safe, but Marie was too important for him to ignore. His eyes were filled with worry and confusion. But then he saw something glimpse by him, and he looked over to it. That 'something' that glimpsed by him came back, and was floating beside him.

It was Marie.

**Oogie Manor:  
Marie**

"Hey, check it out!" I exclaimed. "I'm flying!"

I looked over to Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jack. They all looked like they saw a ghost. Well jack didn't look too surprised, he was used to these things. I smiled as I twirled around, I landed near them and I looked at them. Donald, Goofy and Jack were laughing at my excitement, but Sora looked like he almost had a heart attack.

"I'm guessing you thought I was a goner," I said.

"Yea, I did.." he rubbed the back of his head, sighing out of relief. "I'm glad you're okay though."

"Me too," I looked around at the blobs of darkness around the manor, or Oogie..whichever. "But we have something to take care of."

Sora nodded, he took out his Keyblade and started working on the first blob. Donald and Goofy went to work on their own blobs, as well as Jack. I took it to myself to work on the one that was highest, mainly because I could now fly!

It's actually pretty cool seeing part of Halloween town on wings, but now wasn't the time to gawk, I had to take out that blob. I took out my Keyblade and started slashing at the blob, surprisingly, it wasn't really hard to take down. It only took me about four slashes for it to go down.

When I was done, I headed towards the entrance and saw Sora, Donald, Goofy and Jack already there. I landed near them, and instead of one, both my wings began to tie up. I guess I overused them.

I walked near Sora, and then I began to hear the floor rumble. When I looked up, I saw that the Oogie manor was melting. A lot of smoke was coming out, and I covered my nose because the smell was awful.

When the manor completely melted, a keyhole appeared in it's place. Sora and I took out our Keyblades, and did the usual – seal the keyhole. All was done, and we walked back to the doctor's lab. But when we were walking there, I felt Sora's hand grasp mine. I looked at his hand, and I smiled to myself, this place really did bring out the romance.

We reached the doctor's lab, and entered it. We saw the doctor and Sally walking around, and it looked like they were worried. Well, the doctor was probably worried about his heart, but Sally was genuinely worried about Jack.

"Sally, Why didn't I listen to you?" Jack said as he walked near Sally.

"Don't feel bad, jack," she assured. "We'll come up with another plan for Halloween."

"Next time, we'll do it together," Sally took Jack's hands into hers, and they both looked really with each other. It made me feel really happy that I wrapped my arms around Sora's left arm. He smiled, and we stayed like this for a while.

"I guess we have no choice," Jack said. "We'll have to cancel the heartless Halloween festival for now."

"Well, you guys can visit us any time," Jack said. "Next year's Halloween will be the scariest ever!"

We said our farewell, and left for the gummi ship. Along the way, however, Sally came out and walked towards us. "Marie, may I talk to you for a moment?" she asked. I nodded and walked over to her.

"What's wrong," I asked. She looked at me, and then at Sora. She proceeded to smile, and patted my shoulder.

"I know you won't, but don't lose hope in Sora," she said. "No matter what happens between you two. From what I can see, you both seem to love each other dearly, so don't let anything come between that."

I looked at her, and thought for a moment. I would travel everywhere with Sora, just to be with him. He makes me feel really happy, and safe. Seeing him always made me felt like I was never alone, like he was always with me.

"Don't worry, Sally," I assured her. "I'll never lose hope in him."

**Gummi Ship:  
Marie**

We were on the gummi ship, and our clothes were back to normal. I felt way more relaxed after visiting Halloween Town, even though it was a very spooky and scary town.

"Uh, a big ship is catching up to us," Goofy said. I looked at the screen, and I also noticed a ship heading towards us.

"Quit gawking!" shouted Donald. "That's a pirate ship!"

"A pirate ship!" I said. "An actual pirate ship? Can we go on it? I wanna go on it!"

"Whoa!" exclaimed Sora. "It's going to ram us! Hold in tight!"

almost immediately, we were thrown out of the gummi ship. And the last thing I saw was Sora, Donald and Goofy flying in a different direction.

**Neverland Pirate ship:  
Marie**

I woke up, and I was in a room.

I looked around, and saw a window. I looked out of it, and I noticed it was all water. Was I in the pirate ship! Hey, I managed to get on it after all.

"Ah, how nice of you to wake up," I turned around and saw Maleficent standing near me.

"Maleficent!" I exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to tell you the truth," she said.

"The truth?" I asked.

"That boy doesn't care about you," she said. Was she talking about Sora? "He's only using you. He just wants to find the person he cares for the most; Kairi."

"Wait..What do you mean using me? And I thought Kairi was just his friend," I said, feeling a little insecure.

"You can wield the Keyblade, and you also have the power to open a door that holds incredible power," she said. "I care for you my dear, and I would be grateful if you would open that door for me. That boy was going to switch you for Kairi anyways."

She started laughing. "And friends? He wouldn't desperately be searching for her if she was just his 'friend'."

"What do you mean 'switch!" I said rather desperately.

"We have Kairi, and since he's willing to do anything for her, he'll most likely switch you for her," she said. "I want to be kind, and stop that before it happened."

"I don't believe you," I said. "I need proof that you're right."

"Oh?" she said. "Then watch this."

A hologram of Sora appeared in front of me, he was on the ship, and he was walking around.

"I didn't think you'd come, Sora," That voice...Riku was there!

"Riku!" exclaimed Sora.

"Good to see you again," said Riku.

"Where are Donald, Goofy and Marie?" asked Sora.

"Are they that important to you?" Riku asked. "More important than old friends?"

I looked at Riku through the hologram, if only I could run there and tell him I remember. Remember our time together, remember everything about us.

"Instead of worrying about them," said Riku. "You should be asking...about her."

Riku moved out of the way, and a girl with short red hair and blue eyes appeared. so...that's Kairi? I sighed, I was beginning to think that maybe Maleficent was right, Kairi's incredibly pretty, there's no way Sora couldn't like her.

I looked closely at Kairi, and she looked like she was in a comatose state. Her heart's gone, and Riku's been the only one trying to find it. It seems like Riku cares a lot for her too, just like Sora does. I began to feel insecure again, and this time I felt tears roll down my cheek. Was I just a rebound friend? I mean, after everything's done, Riku, Kairi and Sora will continue to be friends, but what about me?

I closed my eyes, and I started remembering something...a world. Destiny Islands, was it's name. I suddenly started remembering my street, cozy street, and my house, and my mom and dad! so.. I was from Sora's world instead of Ansem.

"Kairi!" I heard Sora shout, I looked up at the hologram.

"That's right," Riku said. "While you were off goofing around, I finally found her. You don't even care enough to try hard and find her."

"Of course I care for her!" Sora shouted. "I care for her a lot!"

"Is that so?" Riku scoffed, and then started chuckling.

"Of course!" Sora shouted. "I won't let anyone hurt her!"

The hologram ended, and it felt like my heart did too. I was an idiot, trying to think that Sora didn't have a thing for Kairi. A boy and a girl can't be friends I guess, and this just proved that.

"You see? He doesn't care," Maleficent said. I had almost forgotten she was there. "I care for you, like you were my own daughter. I hate to see you hurt, my dear."

"I highly doubt that," I snarled. "But...let's say..if I were to help you. How would I open this door you're talking about?"

"You can will it to open," she told me. "But seeing as you can't remember how, we could always control that power to open the door."

I didn't like the sound of that, 'control that power'. I looked at her, and I remembered her telling me to remember the truth or something.

"You told me to remember the 'truth', what was that about?" I asked.

"That's nothing important now," she said. "What you should be remembering, is how to open the door. You are it's protector after all."

"Protector?" I asked. I protect a door that opens incredible power? "How do you even know it's a door to grand power?"

"Trust me, I know," she said. "It'll grant us ultimate power."

"What if I don't want to open the door?" I asked.

"Well, my dear," she said. "We won't force you into anything. You think about it, as I take my leave."

Maleficent left and I was left alone in the cabin.

**Pirate ship: front deck  
Sora and Riku**

"Of course!" shouted Sora. "I won't let anyone hurt her!"

"So, she's more important than Marie?" Riku asked.

Sora looked down, and hesitated. But he looked back at Riku with anger. "Marie is the most important person to me, but Kairi's like my little sister, and I feel like I _have_ to protect her. With Marie, It's totally different. I _want_ to protect her! If she was lost in the darkness, I'd dive in and save her from it!"

"Hmph," Riku chuckled evilly. "Too bad Marie only heard what you said about Kairi, she now thinks you like Kairi."

Sora's eyes widened, how could Riku be so sneaky and do that? But more importantly, he knew where Marie went? He looked around to see if she was near, but she was not. "Where's Marie?"

"She'll be safe with me from now on," he said. "I doubt she'd want to be anywhere near after what you said."

Sora grew even more angrier, and ran towards Riku. He was stopped by captain hook, however, and couldn't proceed.

"Not so fast," he said. "No shenanigans aboard my vessel, boy."

"Riku, why are you siding with the heartless?" Sora desperately asked.

"The heartless obey me now, Sora," Riku replied. "Now I have nothing to hear."

"You're stupid!" shouted Sora. "Sooner or later they'll swallow your heart."

"Not a chance," Riku responded. "My heart's too strong."

Sora pleadingly looked at him. "Riku..."

"I've picked up a few other tricks as well," Riku lifted his and snapped his finger. "Like this for instance."

A dark heartless version of Sora appeared in front of him, and he was left staring at it completely terrified.

"You can go see your friends now," Riku scoffed. "But I'll be taking Marie."

Sora fell into the trap that was set below him, where Donald and Goofy were. Everything just seemed to blow up in his face so quickly. He was glad to have finally found Kairi, but now he has to find Marie. And he sure wasn't going to leave without her, but what he feared the most, was Marie being tricked by Riku. He did say that she only heard what he said about Kairi, and he could hope that she wasn't mad or anything.

"Let's get underway, already," Riku said. "And keep Sora away from both Kairi and Marie until we're ready to land."

Captain Hook scoffed. "That scurvy brat thinks he can order me around!"

"What shall we we do, Captain Hook?" asked Smee.

"Nothing!" shouted Hook. "The hold is crawling with heartless. Let them keep an eye on the brats."

Smee looked at Hook. "But, Captain, you-know-who is also down-"

"Shh...did you hear that, Smee?" asked Hook. "Oh, that dreadful sound."

"No, captain," Smee responded.

"Are you quite sure? Did I imagine it?" Hook placed his palm on his face. "Oh, my poor nerves."

**Prison cell:  
Sora, Donald and Goofy**

"You don't say?" asked Goofy.

"Yeah, it was definitely Kairi," Sora said. "I found her."

"You don't sound too happy about it though," asked Goofy.

"...Marie thinks I like her," Sora said. "Riku said Marie heard me say that I care for Kairi. But I only care about Kairi as a sister."

"Gawrsh," said Goofy. "Then we need to tell her the truth!"

"You're right!" exclaimed Sora.

"Sounds great," said Donald. "Okay, but first...how about getting off!"

"Oh," Sora chuckled. "Sorry."

Throughout that whole conversation, Sora was piled on top of Goofy and Donald. It was a very good conversation, Donald thought, but it was high time that Sora got off, or else the poor duck would crumble. Seeing as he was the one on the bottom. Sora got off, and they all patted the dirt off. They checked out the prison, until they heard someone.

"How ya doin' there?" asked a boy wearing all green. "Looking for a way out?"

"Who are you?" asked Goofy.

"I'm the answer to your prayers," he replied.

Sora, Donald and Goofy looked at the boy very suspiciously. The boy laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "Okay, then. Fine. Have it your way."

"But you're stuck in here too," asked Sora. "Aren't you?"

"No," the boy crossed his arms. "I'm just waiting for someone."

"Who?" Asked Sora, who was immediately greeted by a yellow glowing woman who was the size of a nut.

"Tinkerbell, what took you so long?" asked the boy. "Great job. So you found Wendy?"

"Hold on. There were two other girls there, too?" the boy asked again. Tinker bell made some movements, since no one could really understand her but the boy. "Are you crazy?" said the boy. "There is no way I'm gonna leave Wendy there!"

Donald chuckled. "Aha. She must be pretty jealous."

Tinkerbell crossed her arms at Donald and kicked his nose. She left the room, and the boy shouted to her. "Come on, Tink! Open up the door!"

"Ahem," said Donald. The boy looked at all three of them, and they were pretty impatient. The boy took this as a sign to introduce himself. "I'm Peter Pan," he said.

"I'm Sora," he said, he took out his hand to shake Peter's, but Peter pulled back as he did. "Okay, we're in this together, but only 'till we find Wendy."

Peter, Sora, Donald and Goofy left to search for Wendy, Kairi, and most importantly, Marie.

**Pirate Ship: Cabin  
Marie**

Wallowing in my despair...

...Is basically what I'm doing right now.

The key to opening some door that holds almighty power, that's me. Nothing but a tool that people can easily use, how pathetic. I still didn't understand any of this me being a 'key' business, but it was frustrating. Can I even consider myself human? Can a key even _be_ human? And to top it all off, the one guy I had a crush on likes someone else..

Wait a minute, no, I remember having another crush, on some stupid boy named Ienzo. He was another of Ansem's apprentice, and a young one too. When I first got lost in Hollow Bastion, he didn't even help me. But silly me forgave him, but I never ended up forgetting.

I have serious bad luck with guys, and it sucks. Maybe this is the reason why I never bothered with them in the first place.

"Marie.."

My thoughts were interrupted when I looked up and saw Riku with a comatose Kairi. It was a little hard to look at her, because if I did, I know I would cry. You're incredibly lucky, Kairi.

"Riku," I said, although more sadly than I had anticipated. "I'm sorry if I forgot you, I never meant to. But now that I fully remember you, and where I'm from, you're now suddenly on the wrong side."

"I'm sorry you had to see what Sora said," he comforted. "But you don't need him. Your heart is strong, just like mine. We could both save Kairi and bring back Destiny Islands."

Riku looked at me, and he had a rather sad look on his face. "...And I'm not on the wrong side, I'm on the side that wants to save Kairi and my home."

"I may not know her," I started. "But I want to save Kairi just as much as you do, and if there was a way I could, then I would do it in a heartbeat. The same goes for our home."

Riku was thinking, and I merely had my head hanging low. It was then that I noticed the necklace that Sora gave me, the necklace that he gave me so that I would never forget him. Now I began to think, why would Sora give me a necklace if he liked Kairi? I'm pretty sure he wasn't the type of guy to play two girls, right? I'm sure.. that he has feelings for me. But... I just don't know.

"I know a way we can find Kairi's heart," I heard Riku say. I looked at him, and I got up. "If we can use a little of your power, we can retrieve her heart."

I nodded.

**Inside the ship:  
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Peter Pan**

Sora, Donald, Goofy and Peter were walking through the inside of the ship, trying to find a way onto the deck. All Sora could really think of was Marie, all this walking made him worry about her. She was nowhere in sight, and Sora knew she was hurting. He just wanted to find her and tell her that Kairi was like a little sister to him.

"So, uh, how come you can fly?" asked Goofy.

"Anyone can fly. You wanna try?" asked Peter. He whistled for Tinkerbell and she came in an instant. "Aw, haven't you cooled off yet, Tink?"

Tinkerbell and Peter surrounded Sora, Donald and Goofy. Sparkling dust sprinkled them and Peter chuckled. "Just a little bit of pixie dust. There, now you can fly."

Donald jumped and flapped his hands, but when he figured he couldn't fly, he fell to the floor. Tinkerbell looked and laughed at him.

**Pirate Ship: Cabin  
Riku and Captain Hook**

"So Wendy's not one of the chosen ones?" asked Captain Hook.

"There are seven, supposedly," Riku said. "And Maleficent says she's not one of them."

Riku turned his back on Hook. "Hoist anchor as soon as possible. Leave all the deadweight behind, including her."

"After the trouble of capturing her?" Hook yelled. "And why those seven? How is that other girl involved? What is Maleficent planning, anyway?"

"Who knows," Riku said, a little hint of sadness notable in his voice. "As long as it means getting Kairi's heart back, I couldn't care less."

Riku looked at the comatose Marie laying on the couch beside him. "But it seems like I've made progress in finding where it could be, thanks to Marie."

"You're wasting your time!" shouted Hook. "No matter what that girl helped with, the heartless have no doubt devoured that other girl's heart. I'll stake me other hand it's lost forever."

Riku continued to stare at Marie. "I will find it no matter what."

"Uh, captain," Smee said from a speakerphone. "The prisoners have escaped. What's more, Peter Pan is with them."

"Blast that Peter Pan!" hook cursed. "All right, then! Bring the hostage to me cabin, Smee! Hop to it!"

Riku walked over to Marie and went to kneel beside her. He felt guilty for even considering using her power to help Kairi, he knew he shouldn't have, but he just really wanted to find Kairi's heart. In the end, however, not even Marie could find Kairi's heart.

And now...Marie was possibly at risk of losing her own heart.

And it was Riku's fault.

* * *

Oh my~  
So much drama in a tween's life! Well anyways, it's made apparent to Marie that she is the key to opening Kingdom Hearts, although she doesn't really know or understand...yet. And Oh my goodness! Riku! How could you! Fights are sure to ensue, a possibly broken heart. Maybe no heart at all?

Thank-you:  
**an1995616**

For placing this story in your favourite and story alert list! Double the love to you!

Reviews:  
**sajere1:**  
Thank you very much for you compliment on my writing, I very much and truly appreciate it. Mainly because I wasn't given a proper education when I was younger.  
And yes, Neverland! Land of the tween drama!

And I looked up her age, and it really doesn't say. But I'm going to agree and say she's sixteen xD

And yeah, It will suck for her. I'm still thinking of how she should approach him, but I hope it'll be good.

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
Whew~ thanks for not thinking she is a Mary-sue. And really? My glasses make my eyes small, I completely hate it.

And definitely, Jack's too happy for a scary world like Halloween Town. But he's still cool.

Oh and thank you for the compliment on her outfit and the chapter. The outfit gave me tons of headaches, and that outfit was the result of all my headaches put together. xD

**Ziddy2343:**  
Thank you! And I'm sure you'll like when they kiss, still thinking on where it should be, but again, I hope it'll be a wicked place. And thank you for the good quality compliment, this is personally a goal for me, writing well-written stories.

And thank you for think Marie is not a Mary-sue as well, for some people it's hard not to place all their problems on top of their OC. I think the only thing that Marie and I have in common is the fact that we're both strong-willed. Other than that, we're very much different.

Anyways, thank you very much for your compliments.

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Thank you very much, I really can't wait for your next update~

**XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX:**  
I guess I sometimes feel a little insecure about my writing, I do know I could use more improvement, but what you read from me is the result of my self-taught work. As I told before in my reply to Sajere1, in my elementary school, one teacher thought I was, deliberately, stupid because I didn't spell the word 'probably' right. And I was in kindergarten. Ever since then I was in special ed learning grade 2 stuff while I was in grade 5. I have a little poem like about it actually, and I was hoping to post it here, but this place is pure fan-fiction, so scratch that.

Well anyways, thank you very much for liking the chapter, I hoped you liked this one as well!

**KillerKunoichi94:**  
Indubitably, but I have a feeling it's just a troll that wrote that story.  
And thank you! I'm not sure if Roxas will see Marie, but for sure Zexion will. I actually can't wait myself! XD


	15. Chapter Fifteen: Riku, Master of the Key

I know in the game Kairi's heart has always been in Sora's, but it's nice to spice things up a but, no?

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen: Riku, Master of the Keyblade  
**

"What is it, Tink?" asked Peter Pan.

Tinkerbell looked ahead, and a young girl dressed in blue with brown hair looked over. "Peter? Peter Pan?"

She ran towards Peter, and they both smiled at each other.

"Wendy!" exclaimed Peter.

"Please hurry! The pirates are coming!" Wendy warned.

"What! I'll be right up there!" shouted Peter. "Just hold on!"

"Wendy?" asked Sora.

"Yes?" asked Wendy.

"Is there another girl in there with you?" he asked, hoping Marie was there.

"Oh, why, yes," she said. Staring at Kairi, who was not Marie. "But she seems to be asleep. She hasn't budged an inch."

Sora thought it was weird that Marie was sleeping, but he figured that maybe that captain knocked her out or something. "Marie? Marie!"

When he looked a little closer, it wasn't Marie, but in fact, Kairi. Her hand had twitched, and Sora sighed out of sadness, he was hoping it would be Marie. But he was still happy knowing that Kairi was alright, and moving a little by what he currently just saw.

Just then, Peter and Sora heard Wendy yelling, and soon enough Kairi was taken away.

"Wendy!" shouted Peter. "Hey, let's get up there!"

**Pirate ship Cabin:  
A little while ago**

"So how will we help Kairi?" Marie asked.

"Hmm," Riku thought.

Marie was sitting next to Kairi, she had managed to look at her, and although she felt a little sad, she didn't cry. Instead, she felt the need to help Kairi. She took Kairi's hand, and held it in her own, she began to see something, and it looked like a heart. This was inside Kairi, and Marie felt like she could grab the heart for her. Marie thought it was weird she was able to see something like this, but she took this as a chance to get Kairi's heart.

"Riku!" she exclaimed sternly. "I see Kairi's heart, I think I can get it."

Riku looked at Marie and he stood beside her, he placed his hand on her shoulder. "Okay, go for it!"

Marie closed her eyes, and her conscious had entered Kairi's. She immediately spotted Kairi's heart, but it looked protected, and a bunch of locks were placed around it. Some of the locks were unlocked, proving that Kairi was trying extremely hard to unlock all the locks. Her heart had always been with her, but it was just hidden and locked away. Marie touched the locks, and she had suddenly felt a power similar to when she was younger. She decided to use this power, and soon enough the locks were unlocking. But something happened, Kairi couldn't obtain the heart in time, and it was going to disappear.

Marie thought for a moment, Kairi's memories consisted of the time she and Sora were together. Marie felt this would be risky, but she wanted Kairi to be safe. She clasped her hands together, and the power of light protected the heart, sending it within Sora, since he is her strongest memory right now.

Marie began to remember, yet again, something about her. Helping Kairi out with her heart, Marie was able to figure out why Maleficent wanted her so badly. She was the heart, soul, and power of Kingdom Hearts. It was coming clear to her, the voices, the power, why everyone evil wanted her.

She then realized that she was in danger if she were to be kept awake. So she did what she needed to, with the power of Kingdom Hearts, she managed to safe-keep her heart within Sora as well. She couldn't allow anyone to grab hold of her power, and she was willing to risk her future because of it.

She realized now, that she may never get the chance to ask Sora if he really loves her. Or even the chance to say how much she loves him.

A tear rolled town Marie's cheek as she left Kairi's conscious, Riku grabbed her in time so that she wouldn't fall to the floor. He saw the tear rolling down her eye.

"Marie? Marie!" he shouted. "Marie! Are you okay!"

She looked at Riku, and the sparkle in her eyes were fading out slowly. She gave a warm smile and spoke before falling into the comatose state that she is in now.

"So...ra..."

**Pirate Cabin:  
Maleficent and Riku**

"You fool!" Maleficent shouted. "Why on earth did you let her help!"

"I wanted to look for Kairi's heart!" Riku retorted. "I just didn't think she would do that."

Riku had a guilt look on his face, if he hadn't asked Marie to help she would still be awake. Maleficent on the other hand, didn't feel guilty, she was infuriated that Marie had fallen into a coma. She needed her to open Kingdom Hearts, and how was she going to do that if she's in a coma?

Marie was still lying on the couch, and didn't bother to move. Her hands did twitch, twice, in fact. She was indeed able to sense Sora calling her name, since both their hearts were connected to each other.

"We may still use her," Maleficent said. "Finally, after a while, we have our hands on the final key to opening Kingdom Hearts!"

Riku sighed, What If Marie lost her heart? It would be Riku's fault if she did.

"Did you at least find out where her heart is," Maleficent asked.

Riku looked at Marie, and then at Maleficent. "She said 'Sora' before she passed out."

**Inside the Pirate Ship:  
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Peter Pan**

"Wendy, are you in there?" Peter knocked on the door, hoping that Wendy would be in the room. They all noticed a ladder, and went up.

Sora went in first, and noticed Riku standing at the door, holding Kairi in his arms.

"Riku, wait!" Sora shouted.

Riku merely stepped back a few, and a heartless Sora appeared in front of Sora. He took out his Keyblade and began attacking the heartless. But this heartless, was like no other, it knew all of Sora's moves, and definitely knew every spell that Sora knew. This battle was quite a tough one, but Sora need to beat this heartless. With Donald, Goofy and Peter Pan's help, the heartless managed to drop down it's power by half.

The heartless was quick, and managed to hurt Sora. It also hurt Donald and Goofy, and Peter Pan was the only one without any wounds or such. Sora was breathing heavily, and tried to attack. He ran towards the heartless, and attempted to strike him, but as soon as he did, the heartless had punched Sora's back.

Sora fell on the floor, and watched as the heartless prepared to attack. He lifted his Keyblade, and ran towards Sora. As soon as the blade had reached Sora's hair, it stopped. He looked up at the heartless, and noticed it was covered in strings of light. Sora's hand began to glow, and he automatically faced it towards the heartless. A ray of light hit the heartless, and it dispersed.

Sora looked at his hand, where did that power come from? Unknown to him, it was the power of Marie's heart, since it now lays within him. After the battle, they jumped down to the next level, and Peter Pan was able to see Wendy.

"Wendy!" he exclaimed, Tinkerbell circled him, and he grew a little frustrated. "Come on, Tink! Not now!"

"Well, this is as far as I can go," Peter said. "I've gotta help Wendy."

Peter left with Wendy, and Sora, Donald and Goofy were left to fight Captain Hook. Sora looked around, and noticed that Marie was nowhere in sight. He went back up stairs, and checked to see if she was there, but nothing.

"Marie?" he asked aloud, hoping she would respond. But nothing. Sora sighed, Donald and Goofy were also very worried, this has been the longest they've been apart from Marie, and they were quite worried. They walked outside to the deck.

"Quite a codfish, that Riku," Captain Hook said, appearing in front of Sora. "Running off with that girl without even saying goodbye."

"He took Marie!" Sora shouted.

"You're a little too obsessed with that girl. But yes, he did," he said. "He took her to the ruins of Hollow Bastion. Where Maleficent resides."

"But you won't be going there," Hook warned. "Unless you intend to leave your little pixie friend behind?"

Sora sighed, and the Keyblade had disappeared. Hook looked at Sora and laughed. "Hand over the Keyblade and I'll spare your lives."

"Be glad I'm merciful, unlike the heartless," he continued. "So, which will it be? The Keyblade, or the plank?"

Hook looked over to the ship, and saw the crocodile. "It's him! The crocodile that took me hand! Oh, Smee! He's after me other hand! I can't stay here!"

"Then allow me to take care of things!"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy looked up, and they saw Peter Pan flying in and taking Tinkerbell from Smee's hands. Sora, Donald and Goofy jumped over the heartless and ran to Peter Pan.

Sora looked over at Peter laughing, and looking at everyone. "You didn't think I'd leave you guys and Tink behind, did you?"

Sora nodded at Peter. They all saw the heartless, and immediately, they all began fighting off the heartless. They began to fight them, and took care of them easily.

After the battles, Sora and Peter stood behind Captain hook's door, and knocked.

"Is that you, Smee?" asked Hook from behind the door. "Did you finish them off?"

Peter, pretending to speak like Smee, laughed to himself. "Aye, Captain. They walked the plank, every last one of them."

Hook ran out, and looked left to right. Peter Pan quietly walked up to Hook, and poked him with his knife, causing the Captain to jump up in surprise and pain.

He looked behind and glared at Peter Pan. "P-Peter Pa—Blast you!"

"Ready to make a splash, you codfish?" Peter said. "Now it's your turn to walk the plank!"

Captain Hook took out his sword, and so did everyone else. Sora was the first to attack, and Captain hook blocked it. Peter Pan came flying in after and slashed Captain hook, leaving a mild wound. Donald, and Goofy did the usual, blocking and firing spells. Sora ran up to Captain Hook, and he attacked, but missed. Sora did a cartwheel, and hit the Captain's back, making him fall to his knees. He quickly got up, and threw a bomb at Peter. He jumped up and avoided the bomb, and he flew around the pole in the middle, and came back to kick the pirate.

Sora flew down and attacked Hook, and then Peter came in to deliver the final blow. He punched the pirate all the way into the water, and when Captain Hook came to, he was facing the crocodile. He screamed, and ran through the water to escape the crocodile.

"Uh, Kairi couldn't wake up," Goofy said. "So maybe she's really lost her-"

"Shh!" shushed Donald.

"Sora," called Peter.

"I still can't believe it," Sora said. "I really flew!"

Sora looked at Donald and Goofy. "I wish Marie was here to fly with me, but do you think she would believe that we flew in this world?"

"You guys can bring her to Neverland sometime," assured Peter Pan. "Then she can try it herself."

"If you believe, you can do anything, right?" Asked Sora.

"I'll find Marie," said Sora "I know I will."

Tinkerbell came flying in and told something to Peter Pan. "What? There's something at the clock tower?"

"Let's go check it out," Donald suggested, and everyone flew towards the clock tower. They noticed that the tower began to glow, and a keyhole appeared. Sora took out his Keyblade, and sealed the Keyhole. It felt really off, knowing that Marie wasn't around. He almost felt like crying, because he felt like he didn't put enough effort into finding her. But he was going to get her back.

**Hollow Bastion:  
Riku**

Riku was heavily breathing from the fatigue he suffered after bringing Kairi and Marie back to Hollow Bastion. He certainly outdid himself and pushed himself too far.

"It was reckless to bring them here without at least using a vessel," Maleficent said. "Remember, relying too heavily on the dark powers could cost you your heart."

a loud roaring noise was heard, and Riku turned around. To his surprise, nothing was there, but Maleficent had smirked. "A castaway," she said. "Though his world perished, his heart did not."

"When we took the princess from his castle, he apparently followed her here through sheer force of will," Maleficent continued. "But fear not. No harm will come to you. He is no match for your power."

"My power?" asked Riku.

"Yes, the untapped power that lies within you," she said. "Now, child, it's time you awakened that power and realize your fill potential."

Riku's body began to glow a sickly yellow, the power from within Riku grew stronger and stronger. Completely engulfing him.

**Traverse Town:  
Sora, Donald and Goofy**

Sora, Donald and Goofy had returned to Traverse Town after locking up the keyhole to Neverland. They had found a piece for the gummi ship to install, and they took it to Cid for him to do it. Sora told Cid about what happened to Marie, and although he wasn't too happy to hear about it, he knew Marie was a strong girl. And of course that Sora would rescue her, if not Cid would have some butt-kicking to do.

"Sora!" exclaimed Donald.

"Now, just remember what Donald said to ya," Goofy reminded. "No frowning, no sad faces."

"How can you be so cheerful?" retorted Sora. "There's still no sign of your king."

"Aren't you worried?" he asked.

"Aw, phooey," Donald retorted.

"The king told us to go out and find the key bearer, and we found you guys," Goofy said to Marie and Goofy. "So as long as we stick together, it'll all work out okay."

"Ya just gotta believe in yourself, that's all," reassured Goofy.

"Just believe..." repeated Sora. He heard Marie's voice after.

_I believe in you, Sora._

Sora closed his eyes and suddenly felt himself falling into another place. He floated, and watched the scene before him unfold. He looked closely, and a little girl, who resembled Marie, stood beside Riku.

"Sorry about Sora, Marie," apologized Riku. "I really gotta tell me to stop chasing butterflies."

"It's okay, there are more chances, right?" Marie giggled. "I'll meet him one day, and we'll all be best friends."

Sora immediately felt bad for chasing that butterfly that day, if he hadn't, he would have met Marie. But he didn't worry on it too much, because they did meet, and to Sora, it was the best thing that's happened to him. But what shocked him a little more was that Marie is from his world. This made him smile, he didn't have to worry about them separating after the journey.

The next scene was with Marie again, and she was in the secret cave. She was drawing something, and Sora tried to see what it was. When she finished, Sora looked at it, and gasped. It was the drawing that he had finished when he was younger, and the person who was feeling lonely was...Marie.

Sora began to wonder, was it destiny that they both met? Was it destiny that he fell in love with her? If so, then it would be destiny if he went and save her. He could feel her pain, and he could feel her loneliness, just how he did with the drawing she drew.

Marie made it known that she was in another world, so Sora had no chance of meeting her again. What he wondered about, however, was why Riku never talked about her. They were good friends, yet he never brought her up.

The next scene he saw was another one with Marie. She was sitting on her table and colouring a colouring book. She looked very young, about three years old. She stopped colouring, and looked over to her bed. A body completely shrouded in light appeared in front of Marie, no defining details were noticeable, but the feeling Marie got was very motherly, and calm.

"Who are you?" she asked, looking at her bed.

_'Young child, I am the heart of all hearts. I am Kingdom Hearts.'_

"Oh, hi Kingdom Hearts," she replied to the voice, which was also motherly, gentle and calm. "I'm Marie."

_'I'm aware who you are. You're chosen as my protector because the light in your heart shines very brightly.'_

"The...light?" she placed her hands on her heart. "...In my heart?"

_'Darkness is spreading, swallowing the light and many people's hearts. And eventually, it will consume everything.'_

"That's not nice," Marie added.

_'Small fragments of light survive in the hearts of children, and yours shines brighter everyday. But your true light sleeps, deep within the darkness.'_

"Oh?" Marie questioned. "I could turn off the lights."

Sora chuckled at Marie's comment, she was still the same, even when she was young.

_'Ahaha. No, my dear. Someday, a door to the innermost darkness will open. And your true light will return to you. So listen, my dear. Even in the deepest darkness, your light will always be there to guide you.'_

"Can I help people with it?" Marie asked.

_'If you believe in the light, the darkness will never defeat you. And you can protect those you love dearly. Your heart will shine with it's power and push the darkness away. Do you understand, my dear?'_

"Yeah...sorta," Marie said. "Just believe in the light, right?"

_'Yes, you understand. I will now unlock the power I have kept hidden within you, and you will be my heart, soul and power. Use it well, and always believe in the light.'_

The body of light disappeared, and Marie was engulfed in light. When it disappeared, she looked around, trying to find the body that spoke to her. Sora reached his hand out to her, trying to reach her. But she too, disappeared, and Sora was brought out of this vision.

"Huh?" he said aloud, realizing that he was still in Traverse Town.

"What's the matter?" asked Goofy.

"Um, nothing," Sora lied. He closed his eyes, and he saw Marie, smiling and sticking her tongue out.

"Marie..." Sora whispered. "Are you trying to call me?"

Cid came back, and had his toothpick in his mouth as usual. He wasn't really in a good mood since Sora told him about Marie.

"I installed the piece for ya," he said. "But, ya know? That place is crawlin' with heartless. So be careful."

"Don't worry, I will," Sora reassured. "I'll save Marie no matter what."

Cid nodded, and Sora, Donald and Goofy walked over to the gummi ship.

**Hollow Bastion:  
Sora, Donald and Goofy**

Sora, Donald and Goofy jumped down from the gummi ship to a hard and stone floor. The walls were very odd, as they were waterfalls. And in the middle of the ruins, was a very tall castle, ruined by the heartless.

"Gawrsh, look at that!" Goofy said pointing at the castle.

"I know this place," Sora confessed.

"Hmm, that's strange," Goofy added.

"I wonder why," Sora questioned. "I feel this warmth inside, right here."

Sora placed his hand to where his heart laid. He did not understand this warmth, but it was Marie. This place was very dear to her, and the strong feeling she got from it was felt by Sora.

"Aw, you're just hungry," said Donald.

"Hey, I'm serious!" argued Sora. They all heard a loud roaring noise, and this signaled Sora to continue and save Marie. "Let's go!"

**Hollow Bastion castle entrance:  
Riku and The Beast**

"No vessel, no help from the heartless..." Riku started. "So tell me, how'd you get here?"

The beast, who stood a step away from Riku, growled lightly. "I simply believe. Nothing more to it."

"When our world fell into darkness," Beast said. "Belle was taken from me. I vowed I would find her again, no matter what the cost. I believed I would find her, so here I am. She must be here, and I will have her back!"

"Take her if you can," shouted Riku.

Beast jumped towards Riku and attempted to attack him. But Riku back flipped, avoiding the attack. He took his blade, and slashed the Beast, making him fall to the ground.

"Stop!"

Sora came in running in front of the Beast. Donald and Goofy followed not too long, staring at the silver-headed boy.

"So, you finally made it," said Riku. "About time. I've been waiting for you."

"We've always been rivals, haven't we?" asked Riku. "You've always pushed me, as I've always pushed you."

"Riku.." Sora pleaded.

"But it all ends here," Riku stated. "There can't be three Keyblade masters."

"What are you talking about?" asked Sora.

"Let the Keyblade choose," Riku took out his hand. "It's true master!"

Sora's Keyblade appeared in his hand, and it was leaving his his hands. Sora struggled to keep it with him, but it disappeared, leaving Donald and Goofy to gasped in surprise. The Keyblade that Sora had reappeared in Riku's hands.

"Maleficent was right," confessed Riku. "You don't have what it takes to save Kairi, you couldn't even protect Marie."

"It's all up to me," Riku continued. "It is said that only the Keyblade master can open the secret door, but long ago something happened. That secret door gave it's heart, soul, and power to a girl, and now only she's able to open the door. She is it's protector."

"A girl?" Sora asked.

"That girl is Marie," said Riku. "I couldn't believe it at first, but Maleficent told me that she's the only one who can willingly open the door. That's why we took her."

Riku smirked. "When you guys were at Neverland, she helped me try to find Kairi's heart. But something happened, and she won't wake up now."

Sora gasped, and grew incredibly angry. "Riku! What's wrong with you! She's your friend, why would you even do that!"

"Unlike you, I'm trying hard to save Kairi," Riku snarled. "And Marie wanted to help. She doesn't even know Kairi and she's helped more than you."

Sora looked down, and felt guilty. Everything felt like it was his fault, he tried his best to find Kairi, he really did. He tried his best to keep Marie safe as well, but all that crumbled. Was Riku right? Did Sora really not try hard enough?

"But I can still open the door," Riku continued. "I looked into it, and those who have the Keyblade can use her power to open the door. And together they can change the world."

Sora began to think, how was Riku the master? Sora has always had the Keyblade with him. No matter where he went. "I'm the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!"

"You were just the delivery boy," Riku smirked. "And since Marie can't use the Keyblade either, that makes me the true master."

Sora growled, and looked at Riku. Why was this happening? Why now, of all times and places?

"Sorry, your part's over now," Said Riku. "Here, go play hero with this."

Riku threw a wooden sword towards Sora. Sora dropped to his knees, and refrained from crying in front of Riku. No way this was happening, especially now that he was so close to saving Marie and Kairi.

Riku only smirked, and left to go inside the castle. It was clear that there was no guilt in him anymore, as he sunk too deep into the darkness. Whatever guilt he _did_ have, was completely gone now. Donald and Goofy walked a little ahead of Sora, and looked at each other. Sora was no longer the Keyblade master, so they had no reason to follow him anymore.

"Goofy, let's go," suggested Donald. "We have to remember our mission."

"Oh! Well, I know the king told us to follow the key and all," stated Goofy. "But..."

Goofy looked down at a saddened Sora, he didn't want to leave his side, but he had to follow orders. Donald started walking, and Goofy reluctantly followed. Donald turned his head towards Sora, and gave a guilty look. "Sora..Sorry."

They both ran to follow Riku. Sora was still looking at the wooden sword, and fought back the tears. The Beast walked forward, although he struggled since he was beaten by Riku. He eventually fell down, and Sora ran to his side. "Hey, don't move. You're hurt."

"Why...Why did you..." Beast took a deep breath, trying to recover from the attack. "You come here?"

Beast looked at Sora, and he gave no answer. Beast took more breaths of air. "I came to fight for Belle."

Beast got up, and continued walking. "And though I am on my own, I will fight. I won't leave her behind, that's why I'm here."

Sora looked at the wooden sword behind him. He was alone as well, but he needed to fight. Fight to save Kairi. Fight to save Marie. He wasn't going to let anyone, even Riku, use Marie as if she were some tool. She trusted Sora, and he wasn't going to let her down.

"Me too," Sora walked beside Beast. "I'm not gonna give up now. I came here to find and save someone very important to me."

**Hollow Bastion: Inside the castle  
Maleficent**

She struggled hard, and had a very hard time as well. Who knew a task like this would be harder than expected?

But that was over, Maleficent finally got what she needed. And that was Marie. She put up a good fight, but her will to help was her downfall. With the help of Riku, Maleficent can finally open the door to darkness, regardless of the state that Marie was in.

She looked over to the princesses of pure hearts, and then over to Marie, who was lying on the floor. Everything was certainly going her way, and it was definitely how she liked it.

When she got word that Sora finally arrived to Hollow Bastion, a glowing heart appeared on Marie's forehead. Maleficent found this to be very intriguing, and looked a little further into it.

* * *

A whole chapter without having Marie's P.O.V! Man, this is **SRS BUSINESS RIGHT HAR!**  
I know it's not as dramatic as the last one, but think of this as a sort of calm before the storm. A very dramatic and romantic storm, yes, you heard right. A **ROMANTIC** storm. I really have nothing to say about this chapter except that you now know how Marie's powers actually came to the surface.

**Thank-yous!**

Thank you:  
**Axel-P  
Ru Tsuna  
Springflowerangel  
**

For placing this story in your favourites! Much love!

And thank you:  
**TheKeeperofKingdomHearts1  
**

For placing this story in your story alert list! Much love to you as well! And I love your pen-name!

**Reviews:**

**XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX:**  
Thank you, I don't feel alone. I know there are other children who are put under the same situation as I, and it drives me insane. It is my number one reason why I want to become a teacher, so that children don't fall victim to that, and most importantly, my niece.

Oh, and don't worry, Sora will get his chance. And it shall be bittersweet! Thank you very much for you compliment!

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
Yep, lot's and lot's of drama! Riku is very troubled, and the darkness just made it worse. It sucks for Marie that after remembering, she really doesn't get the chance to catch up with him.  
And thank you for the compliment, I'm glad this shocked you in a good way. I do love adding suspense and shock every so often.

**sajere1 :**  
Thank you for the compliment!  
Yes, Marie is depressed. But with her mind all blanked out, she can't feel anything.  
Well, you see, it's suppose to symbolize him sinking into the darkness further and further in. Marie offered to help, but Riku didn't protest. He was just so driven to save Kairi that nothing mattered anymore. And it'll just continue to be that way now that darkness has finally sunk him _even_ further.

Ahaha, you're giving me ideas!

**Ziddy2343:**  
Well, she hasn't lost it, just...hid it somewhere safe. And gasp! I don't know if you saw it, but the new Resident Evil movie is going to come out! **-squeals-**  
And yes, you may have epic fries with some awesome sauce. Awesome sauce called sweet and sour. **-drools-**


	16. Chapter Sixteen: Sora, Thank you

**Chapter Sixteen:Sora, thank you**

Maleficent walked through the last room in Hollow Bastion. Walking by, she passed by the princesses of pure hearts that were kidnapped, and smirked. She passed by Kairi, who was floating inside a pink orb.

There was a heart insignia at the back of the heart. It was the heartless emblem, and it had the colors, blue, red and green mixed together.

Marie was a little ahead of Kairi, she was lying in front of the emblem, and the heart insignia glowed on her forehead still. Marie wasn't part of the seven princesses of pure hearts, but if anything, she could still be connected to them.

The princesses are only responsible for _revealing_ the keyhole. As far as opening it, that job belonged to Marie, and if she did not comply, then Riku would have to force the power from her.

"O purest of hearts!" Maleficent shouted. "Reveal to me the Keyhole!"

A pink ray of light appeared from the princesses, and they all met at the top. Another light appeared, and went straight for the heartless emblem at the back. It started to glow, and Maleficent smirked.

**Hollow Bastion center:  
Sora and The Beast**

Sora, and Beast walked into what appeared to be the grand hall. Beast looked around, and immediately put up his guard.

"Be on your guard," he warned Sora. "They're close, I can feel it. Are you ready for them?"

Sora walked ahead, and the Beast turned around, and saw Belle standing at the doorway. However, as soon as he looked at her, she disappeared, and a small shadow appeared in her place.

Beast grew furious, and ran towards the shadow. The door behind him closed, leaving Sora alone in the grand hall. He still looked at the door, and while he looked, Riku, Donald and Goofy appeared.

"Quit while you can," warned Riku.

Sora turned around, and came face-to-face with Riku. "No. Not without Marie, or Kairi."

Riku quickly transformed into a different, more evil form. "The darkness will destroy you."

"You're wrong Riku," corrected Sora. "The darkness may destroy my body, but it can't touch my heart."

Sora placed his hand on his heart. "My heart will stay with my friends. It'll never die!"

"Really..." Riku smirked. "Well, we'll just see about that!"

Riku fired a dark spell, and aimed it towards Sora. He gasped, and as the spell quickly traveled to Sora, it was blocked by Goofy. "Sora ain't gonna go anywhere!"

"You'd betray your king?" Riku said.

"Not on your life!" retorted Goofy. "But I'm not gonna betray Sora either, 'cause he's become one of my best buddies after all we've been through together!"

Goofy gave a thumbs up at Sora and smiled. He turned back and looked at Donald. "See ya later, Donald. Could ya tell the king I'm really sorry?"

"Hold on, Goofy!" shouted Donald. "We'll tell him together!"

Donald ran to Goofy and Sora. "Well, you know..all for one and one for all."

"well, not until we save Marie," reminded Goofy. "But I guess you're stuck with us, Sora."

"Thanks a lot.." Sora said, looking down. "Donald, Goofy."

"How will you fight without a weapon," asked Riku, clearly pissed.

"I know now," Sora said, placing a hand on his heart. "I don't need the Keyblade."

"I've got a better weapon," he continued. "My heart."

Riku scoffed. "Your heart? What good will that weak little thing do for you?"

"Although my heart may be weak," Sora replied. "It's not alone. It's grown with each new experience, and it's found a home with all the friends I've made, and the person I care the most about. I've become a part of their heart just as they've become a part of mine."

Sora looked at Riku sternly. "And if they think of me now and then...if they don't forget me...then our hearts will be one."

"I don't need a weapon," Sora took out the wooden sword. "My friends are my power!"

The Keyblade that Riku had disappeared, making him confused as to why. It reappeared, but in the hands of it's rightful owner; Sora.

Riku grew furious, and attacked Sora. He blocked the attack and returned it to Riku, and he managed to make him stagger, but only for a bit. Donald focused on healing and spell-casting while Goofy focused on blocking.

Riku and Sora. They are both rivals, and so fighting each other was the most hardest thing for Sora. It was not hard for Riku, since his mind has been corrupted by the heartless. Fighting this battle proved to be difficult for Sora indeed as he was fighting his best friend. This wasn't a friendly fight either, it was a fight to save the world, a fight to save the person he cares for.

Riku ran towards Sora, and jumped. He landed behind Sora and attempted to attack him, but before he could, Donald fired a spell at Riku. Goofy came up soon afterward, and blocked the other attack Riku had planned for Sora.

Sora fought and fought, until his hands could move no more. He wasn't leaving without those two girls.

**Radiant Garden:  
Marie, Lea and Isa**

"Here you go," Lea said, giving a sea-salt ice cream to Marie.

"For once, I'm not the one buying you guys ice cream," Marie giggled.

Isa laughed. "It's something Lea and I decided to do."

"Yeah, it sucks you don't have any friends here," Lea chomped on his ice cream. "At first you weren't cool to hang out with us, but we let that slide."

"Hey, I'm cool!" Marie retorted. "I'm cooler than most people!"

"Prove it!" Lea argued.

"No problem!" Marie took out her hand, and started holding Lea's. "See, I'm cool!"

Isa laughed even harder than before. Having someone younger hang out with them sure made Isa feel like a child again. "We don't mean temperature cool, we mean cool as in you're..."

Isa started to think of something to say so that Marie would understand, and managed to think of something. "Cool as in popular."

"Oh," Marie said, her hand still in Lea's. "I don't know about that."

"Hah," Lea stuck out his tongue at Marie. "See? You're not cool."

Marie slapped Lea's hand jokingly. "Well, if I'm not cool, that means you're not cool. You guys keep hanging out with me, so that makes you not cool."

Isa leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, he smiled at Lea and Marie, and started laughing lightly. Lea was a little annoyed that Marie out come-backed him good, but he let it slide and took out his Frisbee.

"Let's go play some Frisbee," suggested Lea. Marie nodded, and so did Isa. The three of them met sometime after Aqua left for good, and it was the perfect remedy to keep Marie's mind of her. At first, Lea and Isa weren't too sure about being friends with some kid, let alone a girl. She proved herself friend material when she beat Lea at his own game of Frisbee.

"This time," assured Lea. "I will beat you!"

Isa sighed. "It's a little sad how a four year old girl beats you at _your own_ game."

**Hollow Bastion: After the fight  
Sora, Donald and Goofy**

Sora managed to defeat Riku, although with great effort. Riku returned to his original clothing, and was catching his breath. It was a tough battle for the both of them, physically and emotionally.

After Riku caught his breath, he ran away. The door that locked Beast out opened, and Beast walked forward. "So, your heart won this battle."

Sora turned over, and nodded at the Beast. They all prepared themselves for the upcoming battle ahead, and Sora only thought of one person; Marie. Riku told him that she was the one who was able to open some secret door, and although much detail wasn't present, Sora didn't feel quite right about it.

Still, he pressed on, hoping to meet with Marie and Kairi soon.

**Hollow Bastion:  
Riku**

"Why? It was mine," Riku came in through the door, running through a hallway.

"Know this," said a mysterious voice. "The heart that is strong and true shall win the Keyblade."

Riku turned around, and saw a man in a blue light. "What? You're saying my heart's weaker than his?"

"For that instant, it was," said the man. "However, you can become stronger. You showed no fear in stepping through the door to darkness. It held no terror for you. Plunge deeper into the darkness, and your heart will grow even stronger."

"What should I do?" asked Riku.

"it's really quite simple," said the man. "Open yourself to the darkness. That is all. Let your heart, your being, become darkness itself."

Riku glowed the same sickly yellow he did last time he accepted the power of darkness. The man walked more and more closer to him, and Riku only stared at him, almost brainwashed.

**-x-**

Riku walked up to the heart insignia, Maleficent was already standing in front of it.

"So, I see the path has emerged at last," Riku said, looking at the keyhole.

"Yes," Maleficent answered. "The Keyhole to the darkness."

"Unlock it and the heartless will overrun this world," Riku reminded.

"What do I care?" said Maleficent. "The darkness holds no power over me. Rather, I will use it's power to rule all worlds."

Riku scoffed. "Such confidence."

Riku stuck out his hand, and a dark looking Keyblade appeared in it. Maleficent stared in awe. "Impossible! The princesses of heart are all here!" Maleficent said.

"It must be them," Maleficent turned towards Marie and Kairi.

"Without Kairi's hear," Riku said. "She will never be able to release her power. And we cannot use Marie's power either."

Riku and Maleficent heard a noise, and she smirked. "The king's fools are here. I'll deal with them myself, while you stay here and guard the princesses and Kingdom Hearts incarnate."

Riku looked as Maleficent left, he began to glow a pale blue. Marie and Kairi both laid there. unable to hear. Unable to see. Unable to move...Unable to think.

**Hollow Bastion:  
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Maleficent**

Sora, Donald and Goofy ran to the center of a cold and stoney room. Maleficent stood waiting in the middle, and smirked as they ran towards her. "I'm afraid you're too late."

"Any moment now," Maleficent smirked. "The final Keyhole will be unsealed. This world will be plunged into darkness, it is unstoppable."

"We'll stop it!" cried Sora. No matter how many times he had to fight, he wasn't leaving without Marie. "After coming this far, there's no way we're gonna let that happen!"

"You poor, simple fools," snapped Maleficent. "You think you can defeat me? Me, the mistress of all evil?"

Maleficent rose to the sky on a rock. This rock was very special as it negated attacks and spells, so Sora and Donald were at a disadvantage. Sora looked at the rock, and noticed that he could jump high enough to land on it.

Donald also did the same, and together they began their plan. Sora jumped on the rock, and managed to get a hit, Donald also jumped and fired a spell at Maleficent.

Suddenly, Sora's body began to glow. And briefly, a heart insignia appeared on his forehead. He felt immense strength inside him, and started to question it. His questioning ended when he saw Donald getting hit. The power in him was light and gentle, and he decided to fight with it.

**Hollow Bastion:  
Riku**

Riku looked at Marie. She has indeed changed, and she is indeed different than most power beings.

One thing he couldn't understand was why her forehead kept glowing. It meant something, but what? What could it possibly mean? He attempted to touch her forehead, but when he got too close it reflected his finger away.

Riku looked hard at it, but stopped as he heard a fight nearby. It was Maleficent and Sora no doubt, and it sounded as if he needed to step things up. He looked back at Marie once more, and then left to where Maleficent would be.

**Hollow Bastion:  
Sora, Donald, Goofy and Maleficent**

Sora had defeated Maleficent and she was clutching her heart. A pink portal appeared behind her, and she left. Sora, with his glowing forehead, ran into the portal.

Maleficent had gone into another room, and a new portal appeared. It was Riku with his blade. "Do you need some help?" he asked.

Sora ran through the end of the portal, and saw Riku. "Riku!"

Riku turned around, and immediately, he noticed the same heart that Marie bore on Sora's forehead. Although it was a little faint now.

Donald looked at the blade that Riku had in his hand. "Is that-"

"Yes. A Keyblade," confirmed Riku. "But unlike yours, this Keyblade holds the power to unlock people's hearts."

"Allow me to demonstrate..." Riku lifted his blade, and immediately struck Maleficent with it. "Behold!"

Maleficent gasped, looking at the blade. Riku smirked. "Now, open your heart, surrender it to the darkness! Become darkness itself!"

Riku pulled out the sword from Maleficent, and she started to glow a sickly yellow.

"This is it! This power!" Maleficent looked at her glowing body. "Darkness...The true darkness!"

The sickly yellow glow burst throughout the field, and Maleficent transformed into a giant dragon. Yellow flames slipped out of her mouth, and a dark aura appeared around her. Before leaving, Riku noticed the glow on Sora's forehead grow brighter. He left thinking on what this could mean.

Sora looked at the dragon, and almost immediately, the power from before came back. By now, Sora grew comfortable with this new power, and he used it gracefully.

**Hollow Bastion:  
Riku**

Riku continued to look at Marie's forehead. He was still trying to figure out what it meant, and why she was bearing it.

But more importantly, why did Sora bear the same heart? What was the connection? Riku heard the fight with Maleficent and Sora, and when he looked back at Marie, her forehead glowed even brighter.

Riku finally realized what was going on. It was sneaky of Marie, but he finally realized. He smirked, and looked as the glow on Marie's forehead glowed brighter. Soon, Sora wouldn't bear that heart anymore.

He just had to wait until his silly little fight was over.

**Hollow Bastion:  
Sora, Donald and Goofy**

Sora slashed the dragon, and it staggered a bit. Donald fired a magic spell, and when it attacked, Goofy blocked it.

Sora was having no trouble at all fighting this dragon. With the power inside helping him, he was attacking with ease. The dragon attacked again, and Goofy blocked it's attack.

Sora looked around, and decided to end things right now. The power had already build up, and he was ready to fire. Sora raised his palm, and he closed his eyes. For a second, he saw Marie clasping her hands together and smiling at him. Her mouth opened, and so did Sora's.

"Heart light!" Sora shouted, and a ray of light came out of his palm. It engulfed the dragon, and it struggled to get away from it. Sora attacked the dragon again, and this time it fell to the floor.

Yellow and black flames surrounded the dragon, and Maleficent returned. Sora didn't much concentrate on her, as he looked at his palm. The power had left, but it felt familiar. He kissed his palm, and whispered a thank you. He didn't know why, but he felt the need to do that.

"How ironic," Sora heard Riku say. "She was just another puppet after all."

"What?" asked a very confused Donald.

"The Heartless were using Maleficent from the beginning," Riku answered. "She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her."

Riku tapped the floor with his foot. "A fitting end for such a fool."

Riku backed away, and entered a dark portal. Sora stared as he left, and the portal still remained.

"Say, that was some power you used, Sora," said Goofy.

"It's weird," admitted Sora. "It felt as if Marie was here when I used it."

Donald looked at Sora looking at his palm. Although Donald didn't really show it, he was a little worried about Marie. Throughout their journey she was struggling to find herself out, and when it looked like she did, it was too. Riku and the other villains had already figured it out before her, and she was in the dark.

"Let's go," announced Donald. Sora looked at him, and nodded. They walked through the portal, and prepared themselves for what was in stores.

Sora, Donald and Goofy ran through the portal, and came into a room filled with all the other princesses. They saw Jasmine, Alice, and other princesses. Sora kept running and ran up the stairs that lead to the top. He got there, and as he ran more into area, a barrier came up, and blocked out Goofy. Sora didn't notice, as his eyes were fixated on one of the two girls he was looking for.

Kairi.

"Kairi!" Shouted Sora. He ran up to Kairi, and held her. "Kairi! Kairi! Open your eyes!"

"It's no use," Riku said. Sora turned around and saw Riku...with Marie lying next to him. "These girls have lost and sealed their hearts. They cannot wake up."

Sora put down Kairi, and looked at Marie. A pained look on his face seeing her next to Riku, which he noticed was different. "You... you're not Riku!"

"The Keyhole cannot be completed," Riku continued. "So long as the last princess of heart still sleeps."

"The princess?" asked Sora. "Kairi's a princess?"

"Yes," Riku walked forward. "And without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. And with it incomplete, we cannot use Marie's power."

Riku smirked. "But it is time they both awakened."

Marie disappeared into light, and reappeared next to Kairi. Sora immediately ran to her side and cupped her cheek. He looked at Riku with rage. "Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!"

"But first," Riku started. "You must give the girls their hearts back."

Riku pointed his sword at Sora, and a glimpse of light quickly appeared on his chest where his heart lays. Sora gasped, feeling an immense pain in his heart.

"What's-" Sora struggled to ask.

"Don't you see?" Riku said. "their hearts are responding."

"It seems while you were in Neverland she," Riku pointed at Marie. "Had found Kairi's heart. She tried to rescue it, but when Kairi couldn't obtain it in time, she placed it within you."

"Kairi..." Sora struggled to say. "Kairi's inside me?"

"Not just her," Riku said. "but the other girl as well. She remembered her own pitiful existence and decided to lock her heart away within you as well. That power you had while you fought Maleficent was the result of her heart responding to you."

Sora looked at Marie, eyes wide with disbelief. "Marie..? But why?"

"You used that power, so you know how powerful it is," Riku said. "That's the power of Kingdom hearts. The power that will open the door to incredible power!"

"Tell me," Sora said. "Who are you?"

"It is I, Ansem," Riku, now Ansem, said. "The seeker of darkness."

Ansem walked forwards, and Donald yelled. He ran towards Ansem, hoping to stop him, but when Ansem threw him away Donald was left outside the barrier that was placed.

"So," Ansem pointed his sword at Sora. "I shall release you two now."

"Princess, complete the Keyhole with your power," Ansem said. "And you, Marie. Open the door, lead me into everlasting darkness!"

Ansem raised his blade, and began to swing it at Sora. Two voices were heard, one belonged to Kairi, and the other to Marie. They called out his name. Sora raised his blade against Ansem, and grew angry.

"Forget it!" he shouted. "There's no way you're taking their hearts!"

Sora and Ansem were now fighting each other, and Sora was not going to go down. This was it, he found Kairi, and he was going to save Marie. Ansem got the first hit, but Sora blocked it. The heart on his forehead appeared again, and he felt the familiar power when he fought Maleficent. He knew now, that Marie never left. In fact, she helped him even more. Sora wasn't going to let her down, he wasn't going to let her be used like a tool.

Marie's power grew stronger, and thus made Sora stronger. He attacked Ansem, and he staggered, Sora didn't give him a chance to get up as he attacked him again. Ansem jumped, and fired a dark spell. Sora countered it with one of Marie's spells, and it managed to hit Ansem.

By now, Sora had reached his peak, and attacked Ansem relentlessly. With a few more strikes, Ansem had fallen. And Sora was breathing heavily.

The power of darkness was surrounding Ansem. Sora looked at him, and ran to him. Donald looked over, and called out Sora's name.

"Sora! Look!" he shouted.

"The...the Keyhole!" Shouted Goofy.

Sora walked over to the Keyhole, and pointed his sword at it, but nothing was happening.

"It won't work!" Shouted Goofy. "The Keyhole's not finished yet!"

"What can we do?" asked Sora.

"Maybe we've gotta go wake Marie and Kairi up," suggested Goofy.

"I think you're right," answered Sora. "If we can free their hearts.."

"But.."Sora thought aloud. "But how?"

Sora looked at the Keyblade that Ansem had. "A Keyblade that unlocks people's hearts...I wonder."

"Sora?" asked Goofy as Sora walked towards the Keyblade. He bent down, and looked at the blade. He picked it up, and looked at it.

"Sora, Hold on!" shouted Goofy.

"No, wait!" Donald shouted after.

Sora looked at the blade again, and looked over to Donald and Goofy. He gave a big smile, and stabbed himself with the blade.

The blade lifted, and Sora slowly closed his eyes. The blade disappeared, and sparkling hearts appeared from it. They traveled to each of the princesses, and finally to Marie.

As Marie's eyes slowly started to open, Donald ran to Sora. "Sora...Sora!"

Marie lifted herself, and saw Sora falling.

"Sora!"

**Hollow Bastion:  
Marie**

"Sora!"

I quickly got up, and ran to Sora, who was disappearing before my eyes! When I got to him, I tried to grab him, but he disappeared! A little faint lighted floated away, and I saw it going away. I could only stare as it left.

"Sora!" Shouted Donald. "Come back, Sora!"

I looked at Donald and Goofy, and too, were watching as Sora left. I felt tears rolling down my cheeks, but then I heard someone else say Sora's name. I turned around, and I saw Kairi looking at the sparks of light disappearing.

I turned my eyes to the ceiling where Sora was fleeing to. I couldn't believe it, but he...released our hearts.

Sora...Thank you, but you're not going to leave like this.

**Fleeing heart:  
Sora**

"What's...What's happening to me?" Sora asked.

"Falling...Falling," he repeated. "...Into darkness."

Sora floated into nothingness, and kept drifting into it as he suck lower and lower into it. His head filled with absolutely nothing, and his heart was nowhere to be seen.

* * *

OH, MANNNNN! SRS BUSINESS AGAIN Y'ALL! AND SORRY FOR TEH LATE UPDATE!

Okay, so not really romantic, but Sora finally release Marie and Kairi's heart. I know it's Kairi who runs up to Sora, but let's say she was a bit lazy and woke up late. Yeah? Yeah.

Now we just have to get Marie to find Sora. OH AND, NOBODIESSSSS! I wasn't going to originally do it, but It fits it so well with the other stories I have coming soon!

**PLEASE READ BELOW! I AM HAVING A CONTEST!**

Yeap, it's an OC contest. I'm making a story involving the cast of Final Fantasy, Star ocean and Kingdom hearts going to high school! It also involves the Ocs that I have too. But I'd like to have just one more OC, and I was thinking: Hey why not have someone elses' OC?  
So, for more details, and for the questionnaire, **go to my profile and there will be the link to the contest page.** Hope you guys participate!

Thank you:  
**ManicAngel8  
Dawn-Of-Dusk9728  
**

For placing this story in your favourites!

Thank you:  
**LadyJamie178  
PyroNocturne  
Dawn-Of-Dusk9728  
**

For placing this story in your story alert list!

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
Marie hath awaken! So now we should all prepare for some butt-kicking, because she will be pissed when she finds out Xehanort took Ansem's name!

And to be honest, I loved that part. Yes it was sad, but the drama and intensity was all beautiful. And yea, Riku is awful, boo Riku! But hopefully now, maybe he'll have a sense of things. And thank you for your compliment!

**Ziddy2343:**  
Me too~ I love teh Zombies! And I can't. Seriously, I'm like kicking the T.V screen every time the previews come on.

And another SRS BUSINESS! This time we do have Marie's P.O.V, but very briefly.

And I dunno, things may be dandy in this story, but things are sure to stir up in the following stories.

And oh dear, I got to get my protective gear for that Hand cannon. Although I doubt it'll help much.

**TheKeeperofKingdomHearts1:**  
Aw thank you, you're too much! As much as you and everyone else enjoys this story, I'm happy writing it.

**XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX:**  
I love teaching, I think I would make a good teacher one day!

And ta-da! Marie is awake and well! Don't worry, Riku will soon realize the errors of his ways.

**sajere1:**  
Yea that part in the game is really intense, but I love it.  
I've never really read much stories on RikuxKairi, but they make a good couple as far as the light/darkness theory with them goes.

Actually, I'm making notes on KH2, and that's gonna be a major thing in it. KH2 is going to be really intense, I hope.

**Ruciro:**  
XD Tornado of hearts! Love that! But don't run away, the climax has just begun~

**therealxion:**  
Thank you for your compliment!  
Oh, and, While in my reading days I read a fantastic story. I don't know if it's still there, but it's on Quizilla, and it's called Bringing back the memories by Animeangel10632. It's based on KH2, and her OC is Haruna.

Actually even to this day, I consider that story by far the best story I have ever read in my entire life. When I write my own KH story I always think of BBTM and how I could never really leave up to it's standards as far as best KH story goes. It's really amazing!


	17. Chapter Seventeen: Reunited at last

I'm incredibly sick, and I've been confined to my house. DX  
My brain is functioning at 10%, previously at 2%. I hope this chapter is up to your standards, and I hope you guys enjoy it~

Also, thank you **sajere1** for submitting your OC entry, and thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you thank you for the awesome One-shot with Marie and Sora! I loved it so much, and I feel completely honoured. I suggest that you guys check it out, The story's called '**Somewhere I fell in love**'.

You've boosted the non-existent ego I previously had, sajere1. Thank you!

* * *

**Chapter Seventeen: Reunited at last**

Everyone kept looking up, and we still couldn't believe that Sora was gone. Donald and Goofy were relieved that I was alright, but really, now wasn't the time to be overjoyed.

"Sora, are you really-"

"He can't be," I interrupted Kairi. "I won't let him!"

Kairi only stared at me, but it was then that I remembered what Sora said during Neverland. I looked away. Now that Kairi was up and well, maybe I should tell her about my feelings for Sora? I know Sora has feelings for me, but if anything should happen...If Sora doesn't return those feelings, I want Kairi to know that no matter what, I'll stand by his side forever.

"So, you have awakened at last, Princess," I looked over, and A man appeared. My eyes went wide, this man he...he looked so familiar!

"The Keyhole is now complete," He said. "You have served your purpose. But now it's over."

He looked over to me, and he started smirking. "Now it's your turn to serve your purpose."

He walked closer towards us, and instinctively, my arm was in front of Kairi, protecting her.

"Don't make another move!" shouted Donald.

"Do you think we can stop him all by ourselves?" asked Goofy, looking towards Donald and I.

The Keyblade wasn't with me for some reason. I shook my head, I couldn't be thinking about this right now. So what if I don't have the Keyblade with me right now?

"Impossible!" gasped the man. Suddenly, Riku walked in front of the man, and he looked like he was struggling.

"No," he said. "You won't use me for this!"

Riku blocked the man, and Kairi called out for him. This was all happening a little too fast for me, but I needed to concentrate.

"You've got to run!" he shouted. "The heartless are coming!"

Heartless surrounded us, and Donald and Goofy looked a little frightened. I looked over at Riku, and he nodded. I nodded back. "Donald, Goofy, let's go!"

I looked at Kairi, who was still looking at Riku. "Kairi, Let's go!"

She nodded, and ran with Donald and Goofy. I looked over to Riku, and he looked sad. If only I could save him, but this guy looked tough, and I didn't have my Keyblade with me. I felt so weak, but I had to protect everyone. I ran towards Donald, Goofy and Kairi.

"What about the Keyhole?" Goofy asked while we were running.

"Let's just get out of here!" shouted Donald.

I stopped mid-way, and I looked back. I noticed a small shadow standing at the top of the steps, and it looked different from the rest. I couldn't let my curiosity get to me though, because I had to protect Kairi. It's the least I can do for Sora.

I looked at the shadow one more time, and sighed. I heard Donald shout my name, and I started running to them.

We made far away from the heartless, and we started walking. This is it, I had to tell Kairi.

"Marie?" I heard Kairi say. I raised my brow and then I looked at her.

"Do you...Do you like Sora?" she asked. Well, at least I didn't have to say it first. I guess it's time to be blunt about it.

"Kairi," I started. "My feelings for Sora are really strong, and you could almost say that I _love_ him."

Her eyes grew wide, and she looked sad. "But, I don't know how he feels about me. What I _want_ to believe is that he feels the same way, but what I _have_ to believe is that his feelings are entirely his. I can't change them."

Kairi nodded, and I continued. "If Sora doesn't feel the same way, yeah, it'll hurt. But that won't change the fact that I'll always be by his side. I'm still his friend after all."

I looked down, and I could sense Kairi's eyes on me. All the fun times I had with Sora were amazing, but they all lead up to one thing; finding Kairi. I _wish_ I could say this didn't bother me, and I _wish_ I could just tell Kairi that Sora and I were meant for each other.

But I couldn't, because I'm unsure of both. I stopped, and I noticed we were in the main hall. I turned around, and I looked at the door we entered. Something bothered me, and that was Sora. I couldn't leave him behind, I couldn't leave Riku behind as well.

"Marie, hurry!" I heard Goofy say.

"Goofy..." I started. "I can't leave Riku and Sora behind!"

"But we can't stay here!" shouted Donald.

I sighed, and I walked down the stairs. I looked over to Goofy and Donald, who had their weapons out. "A heartless is after us!" Goofy shouted.

"I'll take care of him!" shouted Donald.

A little shadow appeared, and it walked towards us. To be honest, I didn't feel any hostility from it. Donald hit it's head with his staff. "Confounded heartless! Get lost, will ya?"

_'Marie!'_

I heard Sora's voice, and I looked at the shadow. "S-sora? Is that you?"

"What!" Kairi exclaimed. She couldn't say another word as more heartless surrounded us.

"Kairi, get behind Goofy!" I exclaimed. She listened, and stayed behind both goofy and Donald as they fought and protected Kairi.

I looked over to the shadow, or Sora. "Now it's my turn."

I walked in front of Sora, and shadows surrounded us. I didn't have my Keyblade, so I didn't know how I was going to protect Sora. As the shadows walked closer and closer, I closed my eyes and hugged Sora.

"Sora! Marie!" I heard Kairi yell.

I couldn't think for a moment, but then all of a sudden I felt two very familiar and skinny arms around me.

"Thank you," I heard him say. My eyes opened, and I pulled away. Happy that he was okay, but a little sad knowing what he said at Neverland.

"Sora!" Kairi exclaimed. Donald and Goofy also called out his name. A swarm of heartless appeared all around us, and Sora took out his Keyblade. Donald and Goofy got in their positions, and Kairi stood near Sora. I didn't have anything to fight with, and this whole 'without a Keyblade' thing was really annoying me. What the heck happened?

I heard a loud growling and I saw a beast coming through the doors. "Go now!"

"Come with us!" Sora shouted.

"I told you before," he said. "I'm not leaving without Belle."

"Now, go!" he shouted. "The heartless are coming!"

"All right," confirmed Sora. "Let's get out of here."

we ran out of the hallway, and made it to the gummi ship. We had to go back to Traverse Town, we needed to tell Leon about Hollow Bastion...about my second home.

**-x-**

"Tell me what happened," asked Leon.

Sora, Donald and Goofy told Leon everything that they saw, and I listened in too. Our trip to Traverse Town was a little awkward for me. Sora and Kairi were catching up on old times, and they were smiling and laughing. They really enjoyed each others company. I actually hadn't talked at all during the trip, and I didn't really make an effort to talk to Sora. And what I was able to tell, neither did he.

"So the darkness is flowing out of that Keyhole..." Leon confirmed.

"No wonder there are more and more heartless everywhere," Aerith added. "The only way to stop them is-"

"Seal the Keyhole, right?" asked Sora.

"Maybe. But no one knows what will happen once it's sealed," said Leon.

"Well, we can't just stay here," Sora shouted. "We have to do something. I've got a friend back there!"

"That's right," Leon said. "You have one more friend to worry about. Riku's Keyblade must have been born of the captive princesses hearts—just like that keyhole you saw."

"Of course," Leon continued. "Without Kairi's heart, it remained incomplete. Once that Keyblade was destroyed, the princesses' hearts should have been freed."

"Don't worry, Sora," Leon assured. "If anyone can save your friend, you can."

I looked down at the floor. I was sitting next to Aerith, and Yuffie was standing beside us. It seemed like I wasn't here for some reason, or maybe it was because no one wanted to talk about my power. More like a curse now that I think about it, sure I was happy when I got them, but I was a little girl.

I got up, and headed to the door. I needed to take a walk, and get some things out of my head.

"Marie?" Aerith asked. "Where are you going?"

I turned around, and looked at Aerith. "I'm gonna go for a walk, I need to clear some things."

"What!" shouted Yuffie. "They're heartless all over! Some even more stronger than before!"

"I know," I smiled. "But I can handle them!"

"Wait," I heard Leon say. "Marie, about your power..."

I froze, so now they start talking about it? Right when I'm about to leave? Great, more things to put in my head.

"Sora said that Riku told him that you could open the door to darkness," Leon said. I looked at Sora, who looked away. I sighed, this is so stupid and childish of him. Was he scared of me or something?

"My memory is a little foggy when it comes to that," I lied. "But supposedly, I can open a secret door that holds incredible power."

"No way!" shouted Yuffie. "That's so cool!"

Leon face palmed. "And this is what maleficent and all those villains wanted?"

"Yeah," I answered. "But I've been protecting this power, and I'm not about to give it to them either. Even if it kills me, I have to protect it."

"Marie..!" I heard Sora shout. Oh, so now you say something. "W-what are you talking about!"

"Yeah!" Yuffie exclaimed. "What Sora said!"

"I'm sorry," I said. I walked out of the door, and headed into wherever my body was taking me.

**Traverse Town:  
Sora**

"Sora!" shouted Yuffie.

"W-what!" Sora replied.

"Well? Go after her!" Yuffie demanded.

"But... she's mad at me," Sora sighed and dropped his shoulders. A pained look on his face at the thought of Marie being angry with him.

Kairi looked at Sora. She knew he was hurting, and much to her denial, she knew he really did like Marie. As much as she didn't want anything to happen between him and Marie, and as much as she liked Sora, she couldn't let him be like this.

"Sora," Kairi called. "Marie isn't mad at you, she really cares for you. She told me herself."

"What?" Sora blinked, and his eyes were wide opened. "Really!"

"Yeah," Kairi smiled. "Go find her!"

And without a second to lose, Sora ran out the door looking for Marie. Marie had left a while ago, and of course she was somewhere far. He stopped and thought of the places where she could be, and then a thought popped into his head. One special place in Traverse Town was the area near the Gizmo shop. He quickly ran over there.

**Traverse Town:  
Marie**

To my surprise, there were no heartless around here at the Gizmo shop area. Or maybe the heartless think I'm too pathetic to even eat, geez, I really got to get out of this mentality.

I sighed, and leaned against the wall near me. What do I do now? Now that Kairi's here, I don't think I have a place back home. Riku, Sora and Kairi will continue to be a trio, and I'll have to make new friends.

Of course, there was also the fact about Ansem.

From what Sora spoke of, a man by the name of Ansem controlled Riku while they were in Hollow Bastion. Ansem...no, it couldn't be. Ansy, are you really alive? If so, then why are you controlling the heartless? Why are you being evil? Wasn't you that wanted to take away the darkness in people's hearts!

Nothing made sense, and it was a little sickening. But finally, the last thing on my mind was my power. What do I do with _that_?

I've had these powers since I was little, but I never had a means to control it. It was like handing me something without instructions, very frustrating and confusing. Even if I had the power, I couldn't take out the heartless with it. I just don't know how to use it.

I sighed again, and looked around. I jumped, as I saw a really big looking heartless coming my way. Damn, why now when I don't have a weapon?

The heartless came straight at me, and I managed to dodge it by rolling out of the way. I quickly got up, and went into my stance. Think, Marie. What can I use to take out that heartless? I looked around, and tried looking for something sharp enough to attack it with, but to no avail. I looked at the heartless, but then I was hit from the back.

I stumbled, but quickly regained my posture. It was coming back for another hit, and though barely, I managed to dodge it again. I felt one of it's leg trip me, and I fell to my back.

"Ooof!" I cried out. I rubbed my lower back, and tried getting up. When I tried, the heartless attacked me yet again. Out of breath, I rolled out of the way, as it was the only thing I could do. I got up, although clumsily. I was out of breath, and i was aching from the attacks this heartless gave me.

This isn't happening...but alright. If you want to play hardball, then I might as well try killing you with my life. Ansem can't open the door without me...so, this seems to be the only way to get out of this.

"You..." I said while panting. "Stupid heartless. You all think you can all just...get away with everything?"

The heartless growled, and I chuckled lightly. "I know where my heart wants to be. It wants to save everyone, and this is the only way!"

I raised my hands, and although I wasn't sure it was going to work, I felt power flowing through my hands. It was a little too much power that I summoned, and I was stumbling a bit. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see my end. All of a sudden, though, I heard a voice. The same voice when I first got these powers.

_'Now is not your time, my dear. Your heart is strong, you can get through this. You just need a little help. Behold the Keyblade that will serve and protect; Winged Heart!'_

I opened my eyes, and I saw a very pretty Keyblade in my hand. For some reason, it also felt like I had a little control over some of my powers. I looked around, where did that voice come from?

_'With the Winged Heart by your side, you have some control over your power. With a little practice, you may have full control of your powers.'_

That voice again... I looked at my new Keyblade, so this is gonna help me control my powers? Alright, let's try you out. I looked at the heartless, who looked ready to attack. I took my stance, and watched as it came running towards me. I moved out of it's way, and quickly attacked it from behind, then I stuck out my hand, facing the heartless.

"Heartlight!" I shouted. A ray of light came from the palm of my hand, and completely engulfed the heartless. It a matter of seconds, the light dispersed, and the heartless was no where to be seen.

Okay, so I believe that voice now. That was wicked!

"Marie!"

I raised my eyebrow, and I turned around. I saw Sora running towards me, and he looked a little panicked. She ran up to me, bending down with his hands placed on his knees. He started panting, and was clearly out of breath.

"You okay?" I asked.

"No," he said. "I wanted to talk to you."

"Oh, okay," I said. "Shoot."

By now he caught his breath, and was standing straight. "I'm sorry."

I blinked. "Why are you sorry?"

"I thought you were mad at me," he said. "That's why I wasn't talking to you on the gummi ship. But that's not all."

"Oh?" I asked. "What else are you sorry for?"

"For hurting you," he said.

I looked down at the floor, yeah, you hurt me alright. But I wasn't really going to show it, not yet at least.

"I know you heard me talking about Kairi at Neverland," he said. "But, thing is, Riku only showed you the half of what I said."

"So what did you say?" I asked.

"I said that Kairi's like a sister to me," he said. "And that it's you I really care about, I would eve dive into darkness to save you!"

I looked at Sora in disbelief, so... I guess I really had nothing to worry about then. I sighed in relief, and I looked at Sora. He looked really sorrowful, and I knew he was telling the truth. But, I just needed to make sure.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "You're not just saying it to make me feel better?"

Right after I finished talking, Sora hugged me tightly. I blinked, but closed my eyes, and rested my head on his chest while also wrapping my arms around him. I guess... I guess this was his way of saying he really does care about me.

"There's nothing I wouldn't do," he started. "To make you feel the way I do about you."

I hugged Sora tighter than before, and I fought back the tears of happiness. I felt Sora hug me tighter, and he rested his chin of my head. It was pure joy and happiness that this moment gave, and I wanted it to stay this way.

We both pulled away, and I smiled at him. "Say, let's get back to the others. We need to figure out how to rescue Riku."

"We should ask Cid how to get to Hollow Bastion," Sora suggested. I started walking, but then I felt Sora's hand tug mine. I looked at him, and he started marching towards where Cid was. I laughed, and I joined Sora in his march. It's times like these that I really need to keep my heart strong, because after all, I have someone to support. Someone to love.

**-x-**

We made it to Cid, and he was doing the usual; checking out some gummi pieces.

"Cid, we need to go back to Hollow Bastion," demanded Sora.

"I don't think I can let you do that, kid," he replied. "The heartless there are multiplying by the minute, and they'd eat your ship up."

"Oh no," I said. "What can we do then?"

"Simple," said Cid. "Go around 'em instead of through. Install a new navigation gummi and take a new route."

"A new gummi?" asked Sora. "From where?"

"The secret waterway," answered Cid. "When I came here nine years ago, I stored it there in case I never needed it."

Cid turned around, and by the sound of it, he was mumbling some unpleasant words. He then spoke normally. "Never thought a kid would be the one to use it!"

I chuckled, and we made our way into the secret waterway. Surprisingly, Kairi was there, and she was looking at a mural at the end of the waterway. Sora walked up to it, and touched it. A navi-G piece fell into his hands, and he nodded at the two of us.

"A light at the end of the tunnel.." Kairi said.

"Oh, your grandma's story, right?" asked Sora.

"That's right," Kairi said. "We were together."

"You know what's funny?" asked Sora. "I looked everywhere for you, but in the end, Marie placed you with me."

Sora looked at me, and he smiled. "Finally, we're all together."

"Now, it's time to get Riku back," he said.

"You think it'll ever be the same again between us four?" asked Kairi. "Marie's been his friend the longest, but even she couldn't really get to him."

"That's true..." I agreed. "For all we know, Riku's lost his..."

"When I turned into a heartless, you saved me," Sora looked at me. "Remember?"

I nodded, and I looked at Sora.

"I was lost in the darkness," he continued. "I couldn't find my way. As I stumbled through the dark, I started forgetting things—my friends, who I was. The darkness almost swallowed me."

"But I was able to hear you call me, Sora," I said.

"Yeah," he agreed. "And you brought me back."

"Well, Kairi and I couldn't just let go of you, Sora," I said.

"We just couldn't," Kairi added in.

"That's it," Sora said. "Marie, our hearts are connected."

I looked at Sora, and he had a hand placed in his chest. "And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness. I saw your light, Marie that's what saved me."

"When I got these powers," I started. "A gentle yet knowing voice told me that deep in the darkness, a light shines within."

Kairi chuckled. "A guess it's more than just a fairy tale, right? Well then, let's go!"

Sora and I looked at each other, and then at Kairi. "You can't go," Sora said.

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because it's way too dangerous," he replied.

"Come on!" she begged. "We made it this far by sticking together, plus if anything, Marie will help me!"

Kairi clung to my arm, and she started laughing. I didn't really know what was up, but I started laughing as well.

"You can't go alone, either!" she said.

"But I'm not," he said. "Marie's by my side, we'll be okay."

"I can't help?" Kairi asked.

"You'd kind of be in my way," he replied.

"Sora!" I exclaimed. "You could have said that a little nicer, you know."

I ruffled Sora's hair, and Kairi started laughing. "okay, you guys win."

Kairi took out a star like charm, and handed it to us. "It's my lucky charm. Be sure to bring it back to me."

"No worries, we will," Sora replied. He quickly ran outside to meet with Goofy and Donald. I looked at Kairi, and although she wasn't showing it, I knew she was sad.

"Kairi?" I asked. "You alright?"

"Yeah," she clearly lied. "But promise me one thing?"

"Sure," I said. "What is it?"

"Take care of Sora," she said. "You're the only one who can."

I looked at Kairi solemnly, and I walked up to her and hugged her. "Kairi, I hope that after all this is done we can get to know each other better. You look like a great friend, and I don't want to miss out on it."

Kairi hugged me back. "Neither do I."

I pulled away from the hug, and I gave Kairi a smile. I left to follow Sora and the others, it was time to find out who this 'Ansem' was. I needed to see with my own eyes if Ansem really was..Ansem.

**Secret Waterway:  
Kairi**

Kairi watched as Marie left to follow the others, and that's really all she could do; watch. Kairi gave out a sigh, she wished so badly that she would be able to come along, but Sora was right, she would be in his way. All she could really do was place her trust in him, and in Marie. Kairi didn't get the chance to thank Marie for helping her get her heart back, but she knew they would all meet up again. Kairi could almost see it, her along with Sora, Marie and Riku all hanging out at the islands. Kairi laughed, it'll be nice to have a girl to shop with instead of the boys.

**Gummi Ship:  
Marie**

Cid installed the piece to our Gummi ship, and we were on the course to Hollow Bastion. Everything happened so quickly that I didn't really get the chance to check out how the whole world looked like.

"You ready?" I heard Sora ask.

"I guess," I replied. "Its weird. I'm going back to the world I've spent the rest of my years in."

"But your home is Destiny islands," said Sora. "You're not thinking of staying here after we seal the Keyholes, right?"

"No, of course not," I replied. "But it would be nice if I could visit it once all the Keyholes have been sealed, and the worlds return to normal. Hollow Bastion is kind of like a second home to me."

I looked out the window, and we made it to Hollow Bastion. When we landed, one thing popped into my mind. Was it really a good idea for me to come? I mean, Ansem wants me to open the door to darkness, and since he's using Riku it'll be easy for him to just take my powers by force.

I shook my head, I'll think of a way to stop this. I'll think of a way to help Ansem instead of just totally killing him.

Well, here goes nothing.

* * *

Alright, now we are leaving the tornado of hearts! Please fasten your seat belts, as the upcoming chapters will be filled with **SRS** anger from Marie. I'd hate to be the person who steals Ansem's name. Oh and look, Xehanort's the one who does! Sucks to be you buddy!

Also, since I suck at explaining things, I drew Marie's Keyblade. If you want to check it out, just visit my profile page. If not, well... you're doomed to never find out how it looks, as I don't describe things like that, or clothes. Drawing is so much easier.

Anyways, since there wasn't anybody who favourited or placed this story in their story alert list, I'll just head straight into reviews.

**Ziddy2343:**  
Confounded Sora! Gosh, I tell him time from time to never fly over people who fire their hand cannons! -sigh- I guess I gotta smack some sense into that boy.  
And thank you for the compliment!

**Ruciro :**  
Ahaha, it has officially calmed down. From now on it'll just be pure action and some angst moments. But no major romantic scenes as far as I know.

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
And now they're reunited! And this chapter wasn't epic DX but the next will be filled with beat-downs from Marie. And after that chapter will be the same, and the next, and the next. XD

**XxI-Stole-Your-CookiexX:**  
Updated to the fastest speed I can do! No thanks to being sick either. And yes, Riku must pay, but Ansem[Xehanort] must pay..with his life!

**sajere1:**  
Yes I love the word, Intense. It's just so...Intense!  
And yes, in my world, everyone is lazy! Like Lazy Town! Except everyone is active!...So Active Town!

1. Um, well. She's with the organization, but she doesn't control any nobodies, or have a special throne. She's kinda like Xion, but just kinda.  
2. Right now, nothing like Namine. But she does inherit Sora's strength, and half of Marie's power over Kingdom Hearts. She'll have another power, but that's currently being planned out.

And thank you for participating~ I appreciate your entry!

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Loved the new chapter, and long time no see!

And that's awesome! It's a real common name, so I'm glad some people have have it and read this story. And I updated fast! Marie is a saviour in this one. XD  
And yes, Lea and Isa are going to be very important in the 359 ½ story, and in KH2 when they 're Axel and Saix.

Thank you guys for reading~ Much love!


	18. Chapter Eighteen:The sanctuary I believe

Brain is functioning at 59%!  
Hope you guys enter the contest, I read some interesting entries, and I'd love to read some more!

* * *

**Chapter Eighteen:The Sanctuary I believe in  
**

I looked at the entrance to Hollow Bastion... it looks so different, so...horrid.

The place I've spent my growing years, even if I was in a coma. So many memories laid in this world, memories I'll never forget.

**Radiant Garden:  
Marie and Dilan**

"Dilan," Marie asked, bending down and looking at the flowers growing outside of Ansem's garden. "Can we put some of these flowers in a vase?"

"Young madam Marie," Dilan said. "If it is what you wish for, I shall get you a vase."

"I'll get them," Marie suggested. She got up and started walking to the entrance, but before leaving, she turned to Dilan. "Dilan, you're a big, scary man. But thank you for being really nice to me."

Marie ran inside to get her vase while Dilan merely plucked the flowers. Normally, Dilan never really bothered acting anything towards the young mistress, but she took a liking to him. This was mainly because no one else in the castle really bothered to talk to her, not even Ienzo after the whole incident they had.

Dilan was sometimes harsh and rude to the young mistress, but he always respected her authority, and thus always referred her as mistress, madam, or young lady.

"Got the vase!" Marie shouted, as she brought in a pink vase.

"Very good, young Mistress," he replied. "I have gathered the flowers."

When Marie fell into her coma, Dilan never failed to refer her with authority. Of course, by now he could very well dislike her, but he shall forever call her by those three words.

**Hollow Bastion:  
Marie**

"Where's Belle?" I heard Sora ask the Beast.

"still inside the castle," he replied.

"Against her will?" asked Goofy.

"No, I think she stayed for a reason," Beast replied. "The other princesses are inside as well."

"I wonder why?" Donald thought aloud.

"We won't know until we find out," I said. "I wanna check something out as well."

"You may need my strength," suggested the Beast. "I'll go with you."

Hey, no problem. The more the merrier. We made it up the stoney steps, and we had to jump a lot, which was nothing for me now. We made it at the end, and an elevator appeared. We took it, and it lifted us all the way in front of the castle's entrance.

"How horrible.." I said very softly. The whole castle had completely changed, and some new machines were built in. it hurt to see everything changed like this, a beautiful world turned into something ugly like _this_?

"Hey, it's alright," Sora comforted. "We're here with you."

I nodded, and we proceeded into the entrance hall. Almost immediately, I noticed a closed door, and it had a drawn monkey face on it. My eyes grew wide, it was my room!

"Sora, that's my room!" I pointed at the door, and Sora looked at it. "Come on, let's see if it's locked or not."

Sora, Donald, Goofy, Beast and I walked to the room. I touched the door, and the monkey drawing started to glow. It stopped, and the door opened. Cool, my power opened my bedroom. I entered the room, and I noticed that everything was the same. Well, not really. Everything was tattered and broken, but the objects and format of the room was the same.

I walked up to my drawer, and I looked at it. I swiped a finger on the top, and dust went on my finger. I opened the drawer, and there was nothing in them. I guess someone cleaned out my stuff. I opened the other drawers, and they were empty as well. I sighed, looking at this place did bring such wonderful memories, but it was contaminated.

I took another look around my room, and I smiled. Don't worry, room. You'll always be the sanctuary you were and are.

I looked at Sora, who was looking at the dusty teddy bears that I had near a beanie-type chair. "Sora," I said.

"Huh?" he turned around and faced me. "You okay?"

"I'm more than fine," I said. "I'm ready to kick butt."

I raised my fist and stood firmly on the floor, now is not the time to sulk or anything. I needed to be strong, and after seeing my room not being completely destroyed, I still had hope for everything else I believed in.

I heard Sora laugh, and I looked at him, he looked really happy. "I'm glad you're back to your old self," he said.

"Yeah," I agreed. "It takes a toll on your face being sulky all day."

Sora and I laughed, and we walked out of the room. Donald, Goofy and Beast followed close behind. We made it into the library, and Beast ran upstairs. We followed him, and we saw him talking to a princess in yellow, who I assume is Belle. We walked up to them, and she smiled at us.

"You've come to seal the Keyhole, right?" she asked. "Please be careful. The darkness is raging deep inside."

she sighed. "We've been holding it back, but we can't hold out much longer."

"Oooooh," I said, figuring it out. "So that's why you guys didn't leave, you were fighting off the darkness."

Belle nodded, and Sora raised his fist. "We'll take care of it!"

"Thank you," Belle said as she bowed.

We nodded in return, and made our way out of the library. We were in the main hall, the place where I brought Sora back from the darkness. We walked over to a separate room, and we all all the other princesses standing there.

I saw Jasmine and Alice, and I ran to them. "Jasmine! Alice!"

Jasmine gasped. "Marie! Sora! Please hurry! Darkness is pouring from the Keyhole."

"It's all we can do just to hold back the darkness," Alice added in.

"I don't know how long we can manage even that," a woman with dark short hair wearing a yellow skirt with a blue top said.

"All right," Sora assured. "We're on our way."

"We're counting in you, Keyblade master," said the woman. "And we're relying on you as well, protector."

Sora and I nodded, we walked over to two other princesses, one had tied blonde hair and she was wearing a blue dress. The other had long blonde hair, and she was also wearing a blue dress.

"We've been waiting for you two," the first blonde said.

"Where's Ansem?" asked Sora.

"Gone," the woman replied.

"When the Keyhole appeared, darkness poured out of it," the other blonde said. "It swallowed Ansem, and he disappeared."

"Though Ansem is gone, the flood of darkness hasn't stopped," the first blonde said. "We're working together to hold it back."

the long blonde haired woman looked unnerved. "I cannot forget the look on his face. As the darkness engulfed him, he was smiling."

"Ansem...?" I asked. "That can't be, Ansy would never sink in the darkness, he was against it!"

"Oh?" the blonde looked at me. "Than maybe you can talk some sense into him, if you two were close, he might listen."

"You're right," I said. "I'll try to talk Ansy out of this."

Sora placed a hand on my shoulder , and I looked at him. "But first the Keyhole."

We walk into a secret room leading to the Keyhole, and we were back to where Kairi and I were originally. I didn't really take in the view before because we were running away from heartless, but now that I looked more closely, this area really started to creep me out. We walked towards the Keyhole in the middle, and from what we could tell, we had to walk in the keyhole to actually seal it.

So we did. We, however, were met with a ferocious heartless. I'm talking 'bout BEHEMOTH ferocious heartless here! That thing's huge! I took out my Keyblade, and Sora looked at it.

"That's a cool Keyblade you have," he said. "When did you change Keyblades?"

"Sora, now's really not the time," I said while taking my stance. "We've got behemoth heartless in front of us!"

"Oh, right!" he exclaimed. He took his stance, as did Donald, Goofy and Beast. It was four against one big heartless, I'm sure we'll win.

The heartless got the first attack, as it tried stomping on Beast. He blocked the attack, and quickly attacked one of it's leg. Sora came in after, and gave it a hard pound on it's right leg. Donald raised his staff, and a bolt of lightning electrified all four of it's legs. I looked at the heartless, and I examined a possible way to defeat it quicker. Really, there was no way to beat it quicker, but I was able to see that the heartless bends down every so often. It's the perfect opportunity to jump on it's back!

"Sora!" I shouted, and he looked over at me while managing to dodge some attacks. "Jump on it's back, you won't have a problem taking it down from there!"

Sora nodded, and I ran around the heartless attacking it's legs. Soon enough, the heartless had bent down, and Sora was able to jump on it's back. It took him a while to be steady on the heartless, but he did it. He unleashed his spells on the heartless, and attacked after. I did the same with it's legs, and Donald helped. Goofy blocked for us when necessary, and Beast went totally berserk on the heartless' face.

Sora got the final attack, and stuck his Keyblade in the heartless. It's heart floated into the air, and disappeared. I let my Keyblade return to normal, and I looked at the Keyhole.

"Now let's go and seal that big Keyhole!" suggested Goofy.

"Sora, Marie," we heard a familiar voice say. "You did it."

we walked out, and we saw Leon, Yuffie and Aerith standing outside. I smiled at them, and I saw Aerith smiling back. Yuffie was sitting on a ledge, and her back was facing us.

"What are you guys doing here?" Sora asked.

"We came in Cid's ship!" Yuffie said as she turned her body around to face us.

"This is our childhood home," Aerith admitted. "We wanted to see it again."

"It's an worse shape than I feared," said Leon. Yes, it is. "It used to be so peaceful."

"Leon, Aerith and Yuffie," I said. "Don't worry. You guys can rebuild this place anew."

"Yes," Aerith said. "If we defeat Ansem, all should be restored. Including your island."

Sora and I both gasped, Destiny islands will be restored as well? How wonderful! But...I don't want to defeat Ansem, not without at least trying to talk him out of it.

"But," Yuffie added. "It also means goodbye."

"Once the worlds are restored," Aerith said. "They'll all be separate again."

"Everyone will go back to where they came from," Yuffie said.

"What? No!" I protested. "We can always visit you guys with the gummi ship, no?"

"It's not that simple," said Leon.

"Before all this," Yuffie said. "You didn't know about the other worlds, right?"

"Because every world was isolated," Aerith finished. "Impassible walls divided them."

"The heartless destroyed those walls," Yuffie said. "But if the worlds return, so will the walls."

"Which pretty much means gummi ships will be useless," Leon added in.

And after all the talk about seeing Hollow Bastion after we seal the Keyholes... I just wanted to see how life was without Ansem, without our grand and benevolent leader. I just wanted to see it... with my own eyes.

"So you're saying we'll never...?" asked Sora.

"We may never meet again," Leon said. "But we'll never forget each other."

"No matter where we are, out hearts will bring us together again," Aerith said.

"Besides, I couldn't forget you two even if I wanted to," Yuffie winked, which made me blush a little.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Sora asked.

Aerith and Leon chuckled lightly, and I did as well. We heard Donald and Goofy calling out our names. "Hurry! Come and close the Keyhole!"

"Sora, Marie, good luck," Leon said.

Sora nodded, and grabbed my hand and left to the Keyhole. We entered the room, and we walked in front of the Keyhole. We took out our Keyblades, and pointed them at the Keyhole. I was a little hesitant, mainly because I was going to see Hollow Bastion at all. I took a deep breath, and a ray of light appeared from our blades. The usual happened, we sealed the hole, heard the noise, and watched as the keyhole faded away.

**-x-**

"Thank you, Sora. I think the darkness has begun to weaken," Alice said.

"But I can feel a powerful darkness growing somewhere far away," Jasmine admitted.

"It's the heart of darkness," the long blonde said, who's name is Aurora. "It must be where Ansem went."

"This is where you come in, Marie," Cinderella, the one with the tied up blonde hair said. "You are the heart of light, you must stop Ansem."

I looked down at the floor, and nodded slowly. "We'll take the gummi ship and deal with Ansem and the heartless."

"A worthy answer," Cinderella replied.

"Sora, your courage can bring back our worlds," the dark hair woman named Snow White said. "And Marie, your light can also bring our worlds back."

"Once the darkness is gone, all should return ti it's original state," Aurora said.

"So that means Kairi will be back on the island?" I asked.

"Most certainly," replied Cinderella. "And you both should be, too."

"I can't go home 'till I find Riku and the King," Sora said.

I looked at my palms, I can't go home until Ansem and the heartless are completely dealt with. I can't go home until Kingdom Hearts is safely secured. I looked up, and I saw everyone staring at Sora. I sighed, and looked at Sora.

"I can't go home until that door that Ansem is looking for is completely safe," I confessed. Sora looked at me, and so did the princesses.

"Yes," Cinderella said. "Your job will be quite difficult it seems. Making sure that secret door is completely safe could take a while."

Sora's eyes grew wide, and he looked at me. "D-does that mean... by the time I find Riku and the King you could still be keeping that door safe!"

I looked at Sora. "It depends. If Ansem manages to open the door and gain it's power, it could take a while, although I don't know how long. I want to try and talk Ansem out of this, so it doesn't happen."

"Don't worry," Sora comforted. "I won't let him use that power at all."

"Thank you, Sora," I said.

Sora, Donald, Goofy and I teleported to our gummi ship. Chip and Dale came on the communication screen, and they looked really happy.

"Hey guys," Chip said. "They're holding a tournament at the coliseum."

"Yeah!" Dale said. "Before going to the next world, why don't you brush up on your fighting skills?"

"Huh," Sora thought. "I guess we could go."

I sighed. "You're fighting alone, because I don't really see the joy in fighting tournaments."

"Hey, no problem!" Sora exclaimed. "You can see your hero in action!"

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, sure."

* * *

I know this chapter is short, and that is because I want to stall for as long as I can. XD  
Next chapter: we meet SEPHIROTH!

Thank you:  
**ccsakura21  
WarriorFan523  
Karategrl14  
**

For placing this story in your favourites! Much love!

**xXToruCMeaXx:**  
I shall read your story. =D  
And thank you! Reading makes me inspired, but hey, everyone is different!  
And I'm allergic to oranges. D=

**sajere1 :**  
Thank you!  
And yeah, I didn't want to make Kairi a witch or anything because then she's not in character, then it screws the story up. I try to make all the characters in character. And Marie's power probably won't be shown until after the next chapter. Or after that, since I like to stall. =D

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Thank you! I can't wait for you to update!

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek :**  
Haha, glad you noticed the title meaning. XD  
Well, again not so epic chapter. A little fighting, and some intense talking, but overall another calm.

**Ziddy2343:**  
Thank you!  
Aw, well. You'll be quite happy to know that I'm doing COM, 359 ½ days, AND KH2. XD  
Ugh, Sora never listens. -face-palms- It's time to call out Marie. MARIE!

Don't worry, she'll deal with him. XD


	19. Chapter Nineteen:Title does not fit! TT

For being a major pain in my ass when I fought - and beat you. For being an awesome character and for being a good opponent, I dedicate this chapter to you, Sephiroth. AND if you appear in KH3, I will let you know... I shall gain my victory, yet again, when I beat your pretty boy butt!

Oh, and **Marie learns three new spells** from her Kingdom Hearts power. And the OC contest ends September 15th, hope you guys join!

* * *

**Chapter Nineteen: I am DAVID LEE ROTH, uh, I mean, SEPHIROTH!**

As much as fighting was a sport for some people, I never thought of it like that. Hence why I didn't participate. Sora, Donald and Goofy were completely ecstatic to join, and since I wasn't joining in, Sora was happier. He was going to show me how 'my hero' really fights.

It was a little nerdy that he said that, but cute nonetheless. I smiled to myself as I placed my feet on the bleachers in front of me. I don't like fighting myself, but Sora enjoyed doing so in the coliseum, so I've been cheering him on.

So far, Sora won the Phil, Pegasus, Hercules, Hades, and Gold cups. Yeah, I know, it's a lot. But I never doubted that Sora could win them, he is really strong, and really tough. He was going for the last cup; the platinum cup. I looked at my nails, and noticed the gunk underneath them. Ugh, I hate it when this happens, so I decided to take them out.

Not long after I started to take the gunk out, I saw a dark spell heading towards me, and fast.  
If I didn't have powers I think I would be dead because as soon as the spell came at me, a barrier appeared in front of me. I sighed very shakily and out of relief, and then I saw another spell hit me.

"Bejeezuz!" I cried out, and quickly ran—more like jumped—towards the end of the bleachers. I got up, and I noticed a tall silver-haired green eyed man with one black wing on his back. He was also wearing all black. He kind of, but not so much, looked like an adult version of Riku. Boy, if Riku ever looked like him when we're older I think I would flip out.

My thoughts were destroyed when another dark spell came my way. I screamed and quickly ran out of the way, and I ran all the way towards Sora.

"What the heck did you _do_?" I asked, bending down to catch my breath.

"_I_ didn't do anything!" Sora said as he got his Keyblade out. "_He_ did!"

Sora pointed at the man, and I got up. "You didn't provoke him or anything?"

"Uh, he's the opponent for the platinum cup," Sora said.

"WHAT!" I said. "I nearly _died_ from this guy! I really doubt he's here for fun and games!"

A barrier appeared around us, and I began to freak out. Majorly freak out. No way am I going to fight this guy, he kinda scares me.

"Hey, I guess it's just us fighting him," Sora smiled at me.

I sighed. "I didn't even want to fight in the first place."

Another spell was headed our way, and we both jumped out of it's way. Sora ran towards me and helped me up, and I looked over at the man.

"There is no need for light," the man looked and smirked at us. "Let I, Sephiroth, destroy that light for you."

Sephiroth took out his sword, which by the way is very long and thin, and took his stance. Sora also took his stance, and for the first time in a long time, I felt awkward doing my stance. Sora ran to Sephiroth and tried attacking him, but he quickly, and I mean _quickly_ blocked it.

"Aeroga!" I raised my hand and a wind barrier appeared around Sora and I. Sephiroth wasn't doing much, he was just circling us and walking very slowly. He raised his blade and I jumped out of the way... But he didn't attack.

Sora sighed out of frustration, and went straight to Sephiroth and attacked him a couple of times. Sephiroth jumped, and quickly flew to the other side. I ran to the opposite side with Sora and we stayed on our guards.

Sephiroth attacked Sora, but he jumped out of the way. I took it as a sign to hit Sephiroth, so I ran behind him and managed to land three consecutive attacks. He quickly turned around and hit my side with the hilt of his blade, and I gasped. I ran out of the way and healed myself.

Sora ran to Sephiroth and attacked him, but he blocked again. I ran to Sephiroth and tried to attack again, but I didn't get the chance. Instead, I ran out of the way and fired a spell at him.

"Blizzaga!" I shouted. The spell managed to hit his back, and Sora immediately came in to attack him four times.

When Sora attempted for a fifth strike, Sephiroth disappeared and a bunch of black fathers appeared. Immediately after, I saw a black light appear behind me, and I was knocked down to the floor. I rolled away and got up after, and I looked to see that Sephiroth hit me. Dude, you totally play unfair.

I looked ahead and saw that Sora attacked him another three times, and I ran towards him and attacked him from behind another three times. Sephiroth staggered, and I knew he was getting fatigued. I'm sure that after a few more attacks he'll go down.

Sora pointed his Keyblade at Sephiroth, and shouted. "Fire!"

I decided to cast one of my personal spells after. "Heart light!"

Sephiroth was hit by both spells, but it didn't bring him down. He looked really angry. "The power of light. It is unwanted here!"

Sephiroth suddenly began to move much faster and erratically, and when Sora tried to hit him he would leap and jump in the air. It was getting a little more difficult, but we needed to defeat him. Not for the sake of the cup, for if we don't, god knows what he'll do to the other worlds.

He abruptly stopped in the middle of the field, and he started laughing. He raised his hands, and then an explosion appeared around him. Luckily, Sora and I were out of reach from that attack, but still... we have to be on our guards much more now.

Since he was beginning to become more quicker, Sora and I had to constantly jump or roll out of the way. Sephiroth started laughing again, and suddenly went into a frenzied sword thrusting trial. Sora decided to intercept the attack, and amazingly, he did.

The next thing I saw was Sephiroth flying straight to me. For reasons I'll never know, everything around me turned slow. I moved my hand in front of me, and it was moving at a normal speed. I felt a fiery sensation inside me, and I closed my eyes. I saw hearts, and then I was able to read a name. A name of a spell?

I didn't have any other options, so I decided to try it out. I stuck out my hand in front of the slow-going Sephiroth and chanted the spell. "Ruby heart!"

the spell was a little stronger than I had anticipated, as I was flung back. The spell that I fired was a fire spell, and a total of five fiery hearts hit Sephiroth, and he staggered after. This was my time to move out of the way!

"Hey, nice move!" I heard Sora say. I was breathing harder, a sign that I was getting tired. Sora helped me up, and I quickly took my stance.

"This is ridiculous," I said. "When is he going to fall?"

"I don't know, but we gotta keep our guards up!" Sora exclaimed. I nodded, and prepared myself when Sephiroth regained his posture. He looked at us, and murder was written all over his face. He ascended into the sky, and raised both his hands.

"Descend Heartless Angel."

As soon as the attack came up, we saw a red light surround us. It was getting harder to breathe for us, and all of a sudden we both fell to the floor. Fatigue hit us both hard, and all I could think of was how to get rid of it. I looked at my Keyblade, and I held it tightly to my heart. The same power I felt when I used Ruby light appeared, but this time...gentler.

"Healing Heart," I said, almost in a whisper. A pink and white light surrounded both Sora and I, and the fatigue, as well as any pains and aches, disappeared. The power to heal... Geez, it's about time I obtained it.

"Thanks," Sora said. We both got up, and took our positions. I grew angry as this was getting stupid. I just wanted to see Sora fight, not me! I took my Keyblade and ran up to Sephiroth, he blocked the attack I was going to do, but Sora came in and attacked him six times consecutively. I fired another spell, and then I ran behind Sephiroth and attacked him about three times.

"Power!" Sephiroth said. He took his blade, and raised it above his head. He went into a sword-swinging frenzy, and I quickly went to cast aeroga on Sora and I. It helped deflect most of his attacks, but after he slammed his sword on the ground a shock wave appeared, and we barely dodged it. I healed both of us after.

Sora jumped, and glided towards Sephiroth. He attacked both of his legs, and he bent down from the attack. I pointed my sword at him, and fired another round of Ruby Heart.

Sephiroth floated above the ground, and he clasped his hands in the air. A swarm of flying stones came hurling towards us, but luckily, we managed to deflect most of them thanks to the aero spell.

But then he conjured up another spell, by the looks of it. And I was getting real tired of this. He smirked at us. "Meteor!" he shouted.

A huge meteor accompanied by small ones came storming down from the sky. Sora and I both cast the aero spell, and dodged most of the rocks.

Sora ran towards him, and tried hitting him. Sephiroth blocked the attack, and tried pulling a fast one on Sora. I raised my hand and fired another spell. "Heart light!"

Sephiroth stumbled, and then he looked at me. I held my Keyblade close to me, and watched as he came running towards me. I concentrated really hard on his moves, and when he lifted his blade I attacked him right in the gut. Sora came in after and gave him a swift blow to his head. We both jumped and rolled out of the way, and then Sora and I were side-to-side as we watched Sephiroth compose himself.

It was taking a toll on us, fighting someone who had the stamina of a bull. But we—or at least I—was determined to end this. All I really wanted to do was take out the gunk underneath my nails, which by the way, was still there!

Sephiroth floated again, and he raised his hands. I see where this is going and I'm not going to take another chance! I knew he was going to cast that heartless angel spell again, and I had to intercept it before he did!

I ran to Sephiroth, and since he was all the way up in the sky I pointed my arm to him. I closed my eyes, and I felt another surge of power inside me, this time however, it was chilly.

"Diamond Heart!" I shouted. Five icy hearts went straight through Sephiroth's chest, and for the most part I thought he was done for the day. Or the rest of my life, it didn't really matter just so long as he was out of my hair.

But nooo, he took out the hearts and swung his sword at me. I managed to dodge, and I healed myself. Sora ran to my side and raised his Keyblade to the monstrosity named Sephiroth. He laughed, but this one was different. He walked, not run, very shakily, like he was tired. I looked at Sora, and he looked back. This was another time where we understood each other well, so we nodded and prepared as Sephiroth ran towards us.

He ran with incredible speed, but Sora and I kept our positions. As he came running towards us, Sora and I moved away from him, dodging his attack. We took our Keyblades and we both struck him from behind, making him fall completely. He stumbled, and took a couple of steps back. He rose to the sky, and a light appeared in front of him, and then he disappeared.

My shoulder's dropped. "Seriously? He's just going to leave without saying _anything_?"

"Hey at least we beat him!" Sora pounded his chest with pride. At least someone was optimistic about it.

Phil came into the arena, and looked at us. "Good job, kids. You won the Platinum cup."

I looked at Phil. "That's nice and all, but can I wash up? I'm not liking the smell of sweat."

Phil and Sora both laughed, and I glared at them. Hey, a girl does not like being icky. As Phil and Sora went to go get the platinum cup, I went to wash up. As I walked, I smiled to myself. This fight certainly helped me learn three new skills, and I managed to brush up on my sword swings and such.

I think I'm fully ready to confront Ansem.

* * *

I have a friend who asked me what Marie's nationality is. Since in KH no one is specified what nationality they are, I didn't bother with Marie.

But it's rude not to let you know what her nationality is, She's a halfie, as she is part Scottish and Irish. Of course, I completely ignore it because it's not presented here in KH. But to make it more specific, her Dad's Scottish(Hence last name 'Hill') and her mom is Irish.

I think most of you could have figured out the Irish part, because I purposely placed the "Bejeezuz" saying the Irish people say. I was going to add "Luck of the Irish" but I didn't feel like it much. =P

Thank you:  
**HeirxxOfxxMerlin  
Geassvampire96  
Jewel Thief-Amethyst-  
midnight star237  
**  
For placing this story in your favourites list! Much love!

Thank you:  
**Geassvampire96**

For placing this story in your story alert list! Much love to you as well!

**1st class Solider Girl13:**  
Thank you! And don't worry, I plan to write for all of the series. Even KH3 when it comes out.

**sajere1:**  
I think I'm busy next Tuesday, does next month sound good? XD And yes, I procrastinate quite horribly. DX  
And lo and behold the awesomnesss that is Sephiroth!

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
I shall name this the warm-up before the storm. Because after this, there are two more chapters to go. And thank you!

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Thank you! And no problem, just tell me the problem or where you struggling with and I'll help you out!

**Ziddy2343:**  
I hate cleaning my room, I really do. But I also don't like to see it with darkness and dust and broken stuff.  
And thank you! Yes, Sephiroth can be a pain in the butt, but he's fun...sometimes.  
And uh-oh, if she's kinda mad, you should quickly buy her some sea-salt ice cream! That calms her down!

**Ruciro:**  
Chapter is here! And Sephiroth has been defeated! A slicing bag is NOT you! XD

**Anonymous:**  
Thank you very much, and he is one of my favourites as well!

Well thanks for reading, I'll be getting serious in the next chapters.


	20. Chapter Twenty: Where it started

**Due to MSN being really stupid, I can't check my emails. So I'm going to check who reviewed recently the hard way T_T. If I forgot you I'M SO SORRY. Blame MSN, really.**

* * *

**Chapter Twenty: Where it started**

we traveled back to Traverse Town because after defeating Sephiroth, we found another page to Pooh's book. I was really happy that we found another one, it was the last one and now Pooh would be able to remember his friends. I really wanted to see Pooh as well.

"I hope we find his friends," I said, looking at the book.

"Me too," Sora replied. "You're not gonna hug or cuddle him are you?"

"What? You jealous?" I asked.

"...No," Sora said.

I laughed, and we both entered the book. We immediately saw Pooh in our view and I refrained myself from squealing, Pooh is such a cuddly and cute bear. He looked really sad, and sort of frustrated.

"What's wrong, Pooh?" I asked.

"Oh dear, it seems my friends have are lost in the muddy path," Pooh pointed at a muddy and dirty path. I looked at pooh and then at Sora.

"We'll find your friends, right Sora?" I asked.

"Yeah, don't worry, Pooh," Sora comforted.

We walked over to the area, and immediately I saw piglet in a hole that was in a tree. Pooh, Sora and I ran over to Piglet, and we were able to get him. Sora called us three and pointed at the branch, it was Owl.

We walked over to the gap, and we saw Tigger bouncing on a log. We walked over and brought Tigger along with us, and soon enough we found Rabbit not too far from us. We walked to the middle, and we separated so we could find Roo. I looked near the trees, but he wasn't there. Sora couldn't find him either, and we started to worry.

"Hoo-hoo! I found Roo boy!" Tigger exclaimed. We walked over and found Roo standing near a trunk. We all smiled and high-fived each other, and Pooh began to speak.

"Well, this calls for a celebration," Pooh said. "It's almost night! Let's all sit under the big tree and look at the stars!"

**-x-**

"I'm so glad we're all together again," confessed Piglet. "I didn't know what to do when I was all alone."

Piglet was sitting near Pooh, Tigger and Roo were next to each other, and Rabbit was sitting near the tree that Owl landed on. Sora sat near Pooh, and I was sitting next to him with my shoulder leaned on his arm.

"Aw, piglet, you gotta be brave," said Tigger.

Piglet looked at Tigger questioningly. "You weren't lonely at all?"

"Lonely? Are you kiddin'?" bounced Tigger. "I'm a Tigger! The most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I'm the only one."

Tigger laughed. "But I do admit, friends are awfully fun, too!"

Sora started tickling my sides, and it made me try hard not to burst out laughing. I was giggling like crazy until we heard Pooh.

"Think, think. Think." Pooh was in a thinking pose, and something really bothered him.

"Pooh, what are you thinking about now?" I asked. Sora had stopped tickling me.

"Oh, well," Pooh said. "I'm just thinking about what to think about."

I laughed, and Sora smiled. "We'll, we're off."

I looked at Sora, and sadly, he was right. We had to go, go and save the world. Cliché, but it's the truth.

"Sora, Marie, where are you going?" asked Piglet, who was obviously sad.

"We gotta look for our friend," he said. "He's waiting for us."

Sora got up, and helped me up after. I dusted off the dirt from my pants, and walked a little ahead with Sora. I looked at everyone else.

"Bounce on back again!" cheered Tigger.

"I hope you find your friend!" Piglet looked at us with a smile.

I smiled at everyone, and Sora and I begun to walk away. I was a little sad that we weren't going to be able to see Pooh or the rest of his gang after we talk with Ansem. I stuck close to Sora, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

We stopped mid-way, and looked back. Sora raised his fist happily to Pooh and his friends, and I waved at them. They all waved, bounced and hooted back. Pooh waved the longest to us.

"Sora, Marie, don't forget..." Pooh started. "We shall always be here."

A light surrounded us, and we were brought back to Merlin's house. The book completely changed, and on the cover was Sora and I holding hands while he was also holding hands with Pooh. Pooh was holding hands with Piglet, and Tigger was bouncing. I started to laugh heartily.

"I'll miss this book," I confessed.

Sora laughed. "Well, if you did, I think Pooh would get tired of the cuddles and hugs."

I laughed and lightly punched Sora's arm. "No, silly. I'll miss it most because it was in there that I started liking you."

Sora looked at me. "Oh yeah, you were trying to remember everything about you. Funny thing is, I started liking you more than a friend in this book, too."

"This book sure does bring out the romance," I laughed.

"It sure did," Sora hugged me, and I hugged him back. The book closed, and we heard a closing noise. We closed a keyhole without using our Keyblades, instead, we sealed it with out friendship.

"Well, now that that's over," I said. "We should start heading out to the world where Ansem is."

"It good that Cid gave us the co-ordinates for it," said Sora. "Let's finish this so we can go home."

I nodded, and we headed to the gummi ship. As much stalling as I tried to do, this was it. We're going to stop Ansem, and return all the worlds to normal.

**Gummi Ship**

The ship headed to the final world without a problem, and we looked out the window to see if we could spot the world early. We passed by some obstacles, and the sky suddenly turned black, and at the end we saw a dark purple light.

We stopped, and we looked at the screen on front of us. It was basically a sort of rock world surrounded by purple light. We saw a blue light entering the world, and I was assuming it was the flow of hearts that the heartless consumed.

**The end of the world**

we transported on the world, and we were inside a cave. Everything.. looked purple and..well, dead. We walked outside the cave, and it was just as worse.

"Gawrsh, is that all that's left of the worlds taken by the heartless?" asked Goofy.

"Those worlds will be restored if we beat Ansem, right?" Sora asked.

"If we can get him to stop using the heartless, then yes," I said, looking ahead.

"But when we do all the worlds will be restored and disconnected," Sora continued. "What's gonna happen to this place? And to us?"

"Well, uh..."Donald struggled to continued.

"This is a Heartless world," Goofy said. "So many it'll just disappear."

Sora, Donald and I looked at Goofy, almost in shock. "But no worries," he said. "Even if this place goes poof, our hearts ain't goin' nowhere."

"I'm sure we'll find our pals again," Goofy cheered. "Yup, I just know that we will."

Donald and I laughed, and Sora looked at Kairi's good luck charm.

"Hey, we've gotta get through this," I said. "You have to return Kairi's charm after all."

"No, _we've_ gotta return it to her," he corrected. I giggled and then we all looked at the steps that laid in front of us. We started walking and then all of a sudden an orb of darkness swallowed us.

We were transported into a new area, and heartless appeared before us. We defeated them, but they were a lot harder than the heartless we fought in other worlds. We were transported back to the original area, and we began to the walk to the center.

It looked close, but really, it was really far. We walked and walked but it still felt like we weren't getting closer. I sighed, this is taking forever. As we walked, I couldn't help but think about Riku, and all that we've been through.

I never fully explained how sorry I was, and I wanted to tell him how I appreciated having a friend back home. I remember when I was small I never really could make friends because I lived so far from the rest of the kids. It was only really until I moved to Cozy street that I was able to make friends. Before moving, I was surrounded by adults and learned a lot, I was a little more mature than most kids. To be honest, I don't regret that because I'm sure that if I didn't, I wouldn't have such a quick and realistic mind like I do now.

"Another orb is falling," Goofy pointed at the orb falling. I took out my Keyblade, and everyone else took out their weapons.

"It's coming!" Sora shouted. The orb fell on us, and immediately we were transported into a new and different area. A behemoth appeared before us, and we quickly went into battle.

This behemoth was a little easier than the one we fought at Hollow Bastion. He wasn't attacking much, and even when he did, the attacks were slow. Donald and I did the usual; fire spells, and Goofy blocked when it was necessary. Sora ran around the behemoth and attacked his legs, and I joined in soon after. To my surprise, the humongous heartless was weaker than the behemoth at Hollow Bastion. We were able to defeat in a short while, and we were brought back into a new area.

This place was covered in thorny stones, and dark strings covered most of it. "I wonder where that Ansem feller went?" Goofy asked.

"Dive into the most dangerous place and we'll find him!" Donald replied.

"Then let's go," I said. "I want to see Ansem."

we walked forward, and a huge amount of air went floating in front of us. "Hey, I think we can float all the way down with this," Goofy pointed out.

"Okay, let's give it a try," Sora jumped into the floating area, and he started floating all the way down. Goofy and Donald jumped in after, and I was the last one to jump. We were slowly floating down all the way to the bottom, and as we were, I looked around. Everything was so dark and gloomy, but at the same time, I could imagine ethereal voices chiming. It was weird.

When we reached the bottom, a light came up, and we looked at it. It surrounded us, and once again, we were transported into a new area. This time, however, we were transported into Traverse Town.

"What the heck?" Donald asked.

"Why are we in Traverse Town?" I asked.

A bunch of heartless appeared, and Sora got into a thinking pose. "I think we have to defeat the heartless to get out of here," he said.

"Well, let's get to it!" Goofy said.

The heartless ran towards us, and we took out our weapons. The heartless were basically a bunch of shadows and soldiers, so it wasn't hard to defeat them. More shadows and soldier appeared, and we got rid of them quickly. After the fight, we were transported back to the area we were in before.

We were then transported to another world, this time it was the jungle woods. I looked at Sora, and I began to speak. "I think this is a sort of means of clearing out the heartless in the worlds we've visited. "

"Yeah, I think you're right," Sora agreed. We took out our weapons and began to fight, we were going to fight all of the heartless in all of the worlds. Time to do what I do best:

Saving worlds.

* * *

I know the chapter is very short, But if I were to write it at my usual length the story would pretty much be done. SO I SHALL KEEP THE SUSPENSE GOING. HUR DUR.

I was at a mall today and I saw some 14 year old's calling themselves fat even though they were toothpick thin. O_o I remember when I was that age, I too, worried about my weight thanks to media. But now I'm going to enter my final year as being a teen, then I hit 20. **I'M GETTIN' OLD! T_T**

Thank you anyone who recently favorited and placed this story in their story alert list. Since the list where I can check who favourited and placed the story in their list is random, I can't check who recently added and favourited. Again, blame MSN.

Now for reviews.

**Ruciro:**  
Geez, Sora! Why are you picking fights with everyone! -sigh- if he keeps this up, I'm gonna make Marie fall in love with Riku...or Roxas.

**Ziddy2343:**  
Why thank you! I try my best to write very well.  
And make it vanilla with chocolate and cookie crumbles than she'll be calm. XD

**sajere1:**  
Ahaha, we're really random.  
Ah, sorry if it was short, but that's what I'm going to do now. If I write for too long I could very well finish the story on one chapter. And I must keep the suspense.  
And yes, gunk is win.

**1st class Solider Girl13:**  
Thank you! I'll try to make the ending really good!

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
I sent you an email where you can find the information. But because I'm busy, I've made the due date on September 20th. Sephiroth is my mortal enemy, and I must defeat him wherever he foes. Even in the bathroom! Ahh, and well. I'm not sure. I'm still deciding when that should be. xD

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
Yes, the warm up. XD and I think I'll make that three chapters. Plus the epilogue? Did I spell that right?  
And I love popcorn! Extra buttery for me, please! And thank you! Fights are awesome when it involves Sephiroth.

Well, If I missed any reviews please tell me. Once again, I BLAME MSN. -shakes fist-


	21. Chapter TwentyOne: The world ends w you

MSN is finally working for me again, Yay!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-One: The world ends with you**

we had just finished the last world, which was 100 acre woods. We transported into a new area, and we were in a hallway much similar to the one in Hollow Bastion. We walked a little ahead, and we noticed a room full of machines and monitors.

"What is all this?" asked Sora. I looked around and noticed there were two beds. One was tattered and looked really old and broken, but the other looked almost brand new. There was a note on top of the bed, I leaned in closer and read the note.

"I blame myself for what happened to Marie," I started. "She wanted to help with my study of darkness, but in the end she fell victim to the coma. I wonder if it had anything to do with-"

The note was cut off, and I looked at the bed. My mouth hung open for a while before I spoke. "This...is the place where I was placed in a coma. And this is one of Ansem's notes!"

Sora looked at the bed, and I knew he could tell I was disturbed. I know I said I remember my past, but as far as this power goes, I really know nothing. I only know that I open the door to darkness, and that didn't help.

"Hey look at this," Sora pointed out, changing the subject. I walked over to a large looking machine, and there were words written on a tablet.

_"Ones born of the heart and darkness, devoid of hearts, ravage all worlds and bring desolation. Seize all hearts and consummate the great heart. All hearts to be one, one heart to encompass all."_

The last part of the note caught my attention even more so.

_"Realize the destiny: the realm of Kingdom Hearts. The great darkness sealed within the great heart. Progeny of darkness, come back to the eternal darkness. For the heart of light shall unseal the path. Seven hearts, one Keyhole, and one key to the door. The door of darkness, tied by the progeny. The door of darkness to seal the light. None shall pass but shadows, and the progeny, returning to darkness."_

I took a breath, and continued reading the rest.

_"Ones born of the heart and darkness, hunger for every heart until the dark door opens."_

I stopped reading, and I looked Sora, Donald and Goofy. I couldn't really say anything, and all I could do is just stare at the tablet.

"Marie..?" I heard Sora ask. "Are you alright?"

I looked at Sora, and swallowed the lump I had in my throat before I spoke. "I'm fine, but this.. This is talking about the princesses of seven hears and... I."

"The great darkness sealed within the great heart," Sora said, repeating a verse in the tablet. "You're the heart, soul and power of Kingdom hearts. Does this mean that your complete darkness?"

"I don't want to believe it," I confessed. "But everything that everyone said has referred to it as being darkness."

I looked at Sora, and I felt tears welling up. "Sora..? What if.. What if I turn into an enemy?"

Sora looked at me, and he placed his hands on my arms. "Don't say that! You're our ally, my..."

"If you were the enemy, you would have fought us already," Goofy interrupted Sora.

"Yeah, it can't happen!" Donald added in.

"But it's certainly not out of the question," I replied. "But... If anything like that happens Sora, I want you to personally end it. It'll make me feel better knowing you did it than anyone else."

Sora gave a defeated and saddened grunt. "Don't worry, Marie. It won't happen."

"If you say so. Thank you for comforting me," I said, wiping off the tears that were about to fall. Sora gave me a quick hug before we noticed something happening.

We were transported into an entirely different area, however, we were flying. Sora, Donald and Goofy seemed to have the hang of it, but this was entirely new to me. I looked over at Sora as I spoke. "How did you guys learn to stay steady so fast?"

"Oh, we learned how to fly in Neverland," said Sora. "You didn't get the chance, since you were kidnapped and all."

"Yes, _and all_," I emphasized.

"Uh, I didn't mean it like that!" Sora protested.

"You guys, we have trouble!" Goofy pointed at a demonic and gargoyle looking heartless. It was really uneasy, this feeling of pure darkness that I got from him stunk worse than... Well, he just reeked darkness.

Sora took out his Keyblade and immediately flew towards the monster. Donald scanned over the monster and we found out his name is Chernabog. He was awfully huge, like Ursula's size when she got into her second form. I was still trying to get the hang of flying, so I didn't take any risks of getting too close. I fired spells from afar, as it was the only thing I could really handle at the moment.

Sora went around the monster and attacked him from the back, this made him stagger a bit, and gave Donald and I the chance to strike with magic. "Fire!" shouted Donald.

"Ruby Heart!" I flew back a bit from the force of that spell, I still have much to control it seems. Goofy came in after and blocked an attack headed for Sora. Sora attacked Chernabog five more times, and then it started to to bend over.

A volcano appeared from below, and it looked like it was about to erupt. Sora and Goofy flew towards Donald and I, since we were pretty far. Fortunately, the eruption didn't hit us, and Sora went back to hitting Chernabog.

I flew a little closer, and fire a round of diamond heart. Everything was going smooth, but then Sora and Goofy got hurt badly. I clasped my hands together and chanted my healing spell. "Healing Heart!"

Sora landed another attack, and soon Chernabog started to convulse. His legs were now more visible, and the volcano looked more deadly. He gave out a loud and threatening roar, and the volcano underneath him erupted much higher, farther and powerful than before.

I decided to fly a little closer, and when I got close to Chernabog's head I landed two attacks. By mistake I spun and accidentally fired a spell of mine, but in the end it hit Chernabog's cheek. Donald fired spells relentlessly, and Sora also attacked non-stop. Goofy blocked whenever it was needed, and I continued attacking and firing spells.

Chernabog started to convulse again, and then he returned to normal. His wings began to glow, and white homing beams started aiming towards us. I pushed Sora out of the way, and Goofy blocked for us. I gave a tired sigh, and Sora patted my back.

"Don't worry," he said. "Just don't give up."

"I know," I said, looking at him.

Sora went up to Chernabog and gave him two devastating blows to the head, Donald and I fired a round of spells, and Goofy threw a potion to Sora while Donald and I were firing spells. I flew in close to Chernabog's head and attacked two times, although clumsily, and I fired another spell.

Chernabog's wings hit me, and I was sent flying back. I staggered, and tried to get my composure. When I did, I healed myself, and went back to attacking and firing spells. You know, it's horrible going into battle where you have to fly. I don't know how to fly and this is getting really hard for me, but I had to continue. For the sake of the worlds.

Chernabog fired a round of fireballs at us, and although I managed to dodge some, the rest did hit me. It hurt really bad, and I couldn't heal myself because of the pain. But then I felt a cool breeze, and I looked up. Goofy threw a potion at me, and I was back to normal.

"Thanks, goofy!" I happily exclaimed and he nodded. I stuck out my arm at Chernabog, and cast Heart Light on the monster. When it staggered, Donald cast thunder, and Sora came in to give the finishing blow.

Sora flew towards Donald, Goofy and I, and we watched as Chernabog fell into his own fire. The volcano below him went out, and I took the time to heal us. Sora looked ahead before speaking. "We can go through the volcano."

Donald, Goofy and I nodded, and we began to fly towards the volcano. We flew all the way to the floor, and when I touched the floor, I stumbled a bit. Man, it was like learning to walk all over again, it's so weird walking after flying. After we were all steady, we looked at the cave ahead us us. We walked towards it, and there were steps leading down further.

When we reached the bottom, there was another entrance. We walked over to it, and we entered another area. A little further ahead was a hallway, and at the end was a transportation door. We walked to it, and we were in another hallway with another transporter. We walked through it, and we were in a room with a green floor.

Sora walked ahead, and almost immediately, a behemoth heartless jumped from above. It nearly gave me a heart attack! Jumping down like that! Anyways, we took out our weapons, and began to fight again. Sora jumped on it's back, and started attacking it's head.

All these fights... they sure do take a toll on me, I mean who expected a fourteen year old girl to be a wielder of a legendary weapon! Or be the incarnation of Kingdom Hearts! But then again, who expected Sora to be a Keyblade wielder? Or Kairi to be a princess of seven hearts? None of it really made much sense, or probably because I didn't understand much. But maybe it was destiny..

"Marie!"

I looked over and saw Sora attacking the behemoth, I guess I must have been in a trance. I shook my head, and fired some spells. I ran up to it and attacked each of it's legs, Donald cast some spells after, and Sora attacked it a couple of times. Goofy threw some potions to Donald, Sora and I at times, but he was mostly blocking. I attacked it's legs again, and Sora pointed his sword at the heartless casting fire on it.

The behemoth fell, and we took a breath before walking. When we did, however, a batch of heartless appeared. I sighed out of frustration, you heartless really do get on my nerves. And just to show how much, I completely placed myself in 'no mercy' mode. I've had enough of all this darkness!

While Sora was attacking some heartless, I ran up to a bunch of angel wings and started attacking them blindly. Everything seemed slow, and when they attacked I was able to block. I came in after and attacked them really hard. I jumped out of one's attack, and fired a round of Ruby and Diamond Heart. I went back in and attacked them again.

I've never really considered using my arms and legs to hit things, but I've gone berserk and I'm showin' no mercy. So it's now or never, and I choose now!

When I shadow came running to me, I kicked it out of the way, and attacked it after with my Keyblade. A soldier came in after and I ran out of the way and kicked it from behind. Out of nowhere, an angel wing heartless slapped me with it's wing, and that just fueled my anger even more. I looked at it, and ran to it. I raised my blade and cut off one of it's wing, and when it tried attacking me I blocked it with my left arm. After moving my arm out of the way, I took my blade and attacked it with my right arm. It fell afterward.

All of the other heartless disappeared, and the heartless emblem that was at the end of the hallway completely opened up. I sighed, and bent down to catch my breath.

"I-I've never seen you fight like that, Marie..." Sora looked at me, a little surprised, shocked, and oddly scared. When I caught up with my breath I stood up straight and laughed.

"I've decided to show no mercy for the heartless," I said. "They're the reason why our home was destroyed, and they're the reason why Riku turned against us."

Sora nodded. "You're right. We have to stop Ansem, no matter what."

I looked at Sora. "If we can't talk Ansem out of it, let me be the one to end it."

Sora nodded, and we left for the next room. The next room that we entered had a pinkish-white door in front of us, there were also rocks you could sit on. We walked up to the door. Sora looked at it, and examined it. "Huh?"

"What's wrong?" asked Donald.

"Don't you hear something?" Sora asked.

"Yeah..!" I said. "I think it's coming from the door."

We looked at the door, and I began to hear a voice.

_"Careful. This is the last haven you'll find here.  
Beyond, there is no light to protect you.  
But don't be afraid.  
Your heart is the mightiest weapon of all.  
Remember, you are the one who will open the door to the light.  
The one who will free us from darkness."_

"I don't hear anything," Donald said.

"That voice..." I said.

"It sounded familiar?" Sora asked.

"Yes," I replied. It did sound very familiar, and when it told me I was the one to open the door to light, I began to think. Maybe darkness isn't what I am, regardless of what everyone says about the 'door to darkness'.

"Maybe we'd better take a rest," offered Goofy.

"Good idea," said Sora.

We sat down on the rocks, and we rested. Sora cracked his knuckles, and Goofy checked his shield. Donald was making sure his magic was all there, and I was thinking. I began to remember the voice I heard when I was little, and it started to make sense. The voice I heard right now was the voice I heard when I was little.

That voice told me my heard was full of light. It told me that I was able to be the light in the darkness, yet everyone else stated that I was the key to opening the door to darkness. I was thinking really hard on this, but I needed to think it over.

Was I the key to opening the door to light, or the door to darkness?

* * *

Well, this sure is a strange chapter, I think. But it is officially the calm, and rest before the storm. Once they enter that door, it's no mercy for Ansem.

**Please read below:  
**I've begun to do trade requests for drawings on deviantART.[you guys are the first to know XD] **As a thank you for reading, favoring and reviewing , I want to draw your OCs. **I can't pay for as a thank you since I is broke, but drawing is the least I can do. Or even if you want to a one-shot involving your OC is fine as well. I only ask that you give me as much information as possible on your OC or one-shot. You guys are awesome, and I can't thank you enough for reading and reviewing!

Thank you:  
**Kax[dot]Jenx** (I can't place the dot normally or else your whole name disappears LOL)

for placing this story in your favorites. Much love!

Thank you:  
**Taeniaea**

For placing this story in your story alert list. Much love to you as well!

**Reviews!**

**sajere:  
**Well, I can't really say. You'll have to read when Marie and Sora get there. XD  
And ahaha! Suspense is my middle name! XD

**Animeangel10632**:  
Oh my gosh! You reviewed!  
BBTM was an incredibly wonderful story, and I loved it. I'm very glad that you feel that way, i feel very honored that you told me! And as for Luna, I'm on that site too, but it's a shame that it's down for the moment. I'll be sure to check out BBTM there! To be honest, I've actually made a couple of banners for you on Quizilla. My friend had an account under the name of 'pureiceangel' and she let me use it whenever. The times you received those banners were from me using my friends account. I'm really happy I got the chance to get a review from you.  
Thank you so much!

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek**:  
Yes please! I would like a soda! Indeed they are, Lele, indeed they are. It will be more epic when Marie and Sora fight Ansem. I thought about switching, but I have a lot of stuff on my msn account that I can't let go. so it's just for the best I stay with MSN.

**pokemonsora01**:  
Why thank you! I feel honored!

**Taeniaea**:  
Thank you!

**Alexandria Volturi**:  
Thank you!  
Yeah, I used to be a fatty when I was 14, but I worked very hard to lose it. I wouldn't say I have a rockin' bod, but It's pretty average. XD And I will do so, good mam!

Well, thanks for reading. And if you want me to draw a picture of your OC, just drop a PM to me!


	22. Chapter TwentyTwo:The fight for light

**Chapter Twenty-Two:The fight for light**

"I guess break time's over," I said.

"Guess so," replied Sora.

"I can't wait to go home," I said. "I wonder what my mom will say when she sees me."

"Well, we'll find out," Sora laughed. "Let's do what we can now."

I nodded, and we all faced the pink door. Sora opened it, and a light flashed us. We entered the door, and we were on an island. I looked around, and I immediately knew... we were on the islands.

"Is this..." Sora started. "Is this our home?"

"Let's look around," I suggested, and Sora nodded.

We looked around, and I couldn't tell you if I was happy or uneasy. Happy, because I'm seeing my home, and uneasy because because it was swallowed by the heartless and it's remains stayed here. Since this island was consumed by the darkness, the whole thing didn't appear, so we were restricted to one area. The secret cave that I went and drew my picture in, I wonder... is it still there? We walked a little towards the cave, but we stopped when we heard a voice.

"This world has been connected," he said. We looked around, and we parts of the island disappear. "Tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed."

We looked over to the water, and it started to change colours as the man spoke. "There is so very much to learn. You understand so little."

the island completely changed, and everything changed from the happy bright green island to a darkness filled terror. The shore looked as if it tore apart, and the leaves on the trees were a deathly colored purple. My heart was struck with pain as I saw my home being turned into something so cruel... so terrifying.

As I looked at the shore, I noticed Riku standing there. I gasped, and Sora ran past me to Riku. Donald, Goofy and I followed after him. As we got closer to Riku, he began to speak, but in a different voice.

"Take a look at this tiny place," he said. "To the heart seeking freedom this island is a prison surrounded by water."

He began to raise his hands. "And so this boy sought to escape from his prison. He sought a way to cross over into other worlds, and he opened his heart to darkness."

As Riku turned around, he changed into the man that I saw at Hollow Bastion. Is this... is this the Ansem Sora was talking about! No... he's nothing but an imposter!

"Riku!" Sora shouted.

"Don't bother," the man interrupted. "Your voice can no longer reach him where he is. His heart belongs again to darkness."

"You..!" I said. "Are you the one named Ansem!"

The man laughed. "The girl who is destined to open the door to darkness. How wonderful of you to come. And yes. It is I, Ansem, seeker of darkness."

"You imposter!" I shouted. "You're not Ansem!"

This imposter began to laugh, and smirked. "Please, all worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different."

"Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it," he laughed. "Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came."

He disappeared and reappeared behind us. I quickly turned around and kept my guard up, but what he said made me falter a bit. "You see, darkness is the heart's true essence."

I looked down at the floor, so I'm... darkness?

"That's not true!" I heard Sora say. I looked at him, and he looked and nodded at me. "The heart may be weak, and sometimes it may even give in."

Sora looked at all of us and then back at Ansem. "But I've learned that deep down, there's a light that never goes out! And that light... It's Marie!"

"Sora..." I said in awe.

"You're not darkness," he said. "You're a shining light that glows even brighter in the deepest parts of darkness!"

I looked at Sora, and he made perfect sense. If I was darkness, I would have been on Riku's side, and I would have had the power to control the heartless. But since my heart, no, my entire being is filled with light, I can't do both. I believe in the light, and I believe in myself.

Fake Ansem started to laugh, and Sora walked closer to protect me. Ansem floated in the air, and looked down upon us as he spoke. "So, you have come this far and still you understand nothing. Every light must fade, every heart return to darkness!"

A pure blood heartless appeared behind Ansem, and he began to attack us. Sora angrily blocked the attack, and fiercely attacked him in return. I could feel Sora's anger towards this imposter, and for the most part, I couldn't agree more on his emotions towards him. I was angry as well, he fooled us with his name. He stole Ansem the wise...Ansy's grand and benevolent title and turned it into a darkness filled name. He was going down... Marie style!

First, I carefully studied Ansem's moves first, and he moved around a lot. The heartless behind him punched Sora when he got too close, and Ansem also fired fiery discs after. This turned into a pattern, and what I also was able to see was that his back side was vulnerable. Alright, you imposter. Time to feel this girl's wraith!

I ran towards Ansem, and as predicted, his heartless bodyguard came and tried dealing a punch. I blocked the attack, and ram around Ansem's back. I landed about three swift attacks, and jumped out of the way and fired one of my spells.

"Heart Light!" I shouted. It hit Ansem, and it was pretty effective, although he smirked right after.

"Your petty spells are nothing!" he said. "you would disappoint Ansem the wise this way?"

"Don't you _dare_ use his name!" I shouted as I attacked him. "I'll make you taste ten years of bottled emotions, you loser!"

Rage would be an understatement to what I was feeling right now, and I'm going to make him feel every bit of it. I jumped back, and I clasped my hands together. I could feel the immense power of light flowing through my body, and I looked straight at Ansem. I pointed my arms at him, and concentrated on this power of light. "Grant me light... Heart Light!"

From the corner's of my eyes, I saw two white hearts appear. I flicked my wrist towards Ansem, and multiple rays shot out of the hearts, and headed straight for that imposter. Ansem stumbled a bit, and growled. I merely looked at him, and smirked.

"Who has the petty spells, now?" I mocked. Sora smirked at Ansem as well, and planted five consecutive attacks to his back. Donald fired a chain of spells, stopping only to replenish his fatigue. He went back to firing after he drank an elixir.

Goofy was proving the most effective in this battle, as he was on his toes and protected anyone who was getting hit by the heartless bodyguard. Goofy was always at the top of his game, but he was giving it his all this time and it showed.

I ran towards Ansem, and I attacked him from behind after blocking his bodyguard's attack. Ansem's bodyguard punched me really hard in the back, and I fell on the sand. I hadn't anticipated that attack, but I got up and dusted off the sand from my pants. Sora landed another attack, and came back for another.

I distanced myself a bit, and cast Diamond Heart on Ansem. He blocked one of the hearts, but the other hit his bodyguard. I came in for a second hit, and attacked the heartless two times. Donald came in after and fired a round of fire and ice, and Sora jumped on Ansem to land a hit.

The heartless behind Ansem popped out in front of Sora, and he smirked evilly. "Submit!" shouted the heartless, and he grabbed Sora's arm. He suddenly transformed into Sora's shadow, and started draining his health. Sora couldn't move, and Ansem was preparing an attack to hit him.

This was it, time to see if my heart really was filled with light. I ran towards Sora, and as Ansem came charging in, I stepped in front of Sora and lifted my blade. A soft light surrounded my Keyblade, and when Ansem was about to attack, I blocked it. He was pushed back by the force of light, and I turned around and touched Sora. The shadow disappeared almost instantly as he growled in pain, and he returned as Ansem's bodyguard. I noticed Ansem bending down to catch his breath.

That told me that we were almost close to defeating Ansem.

* * *

So thy fight with Ansem hath begun!  
SRS BSNSS is sure to ensue in the next chapters as Marie and Sora fight the many ridiculous forms that MANSEX just has to release. I THINK THESE BIG MOSNTERS ARE TRYING TO COMPENSATE FOR SOMETHING ELSE... It's okay Mansex, it's okay.  
EXCUSE MY CAPS WRITING, I HAD TOO MUCH SUGAR.

OH, AND OH MY GOSH. I requested my friend on Deviant art if she could draw Marie, and **SHE DID AN ABSOLUTELY AMAZING JOB. If you want to see it, I'll will post a link to it on my profile under the name AppleRawr27**. IT'S SO CUTE, it has Marie AND her nobody. HNNNNNGGG3 THANK YOU MAE! I LOVE YOU TO DEATH!

Thank you:  
**Little Rock Bear1996  
A-Prayer-4-da-Damned  
WalkingDisaster16**

For favoring this story. Much love from meeeh!

Thank you:  
**lilmeika  
Little Rock Bear1996**

For placing this story in your story alert list. Much love from meh as well!

**Taeniaea :**  
Thank you!  
And Marie has suffered a lot, but everything ends in like two more chapters. XD

**sajere1:**  
Ahaha, thank you!  
And yeah, I changed it. Can't let that slip happen again! DX  
No sleep does horrible things, it seems. XD

NO, ALL YOUR OCS ARE BELONG TO ME.  
In other words, give me the details for everyone one of them. I'll be happy to draw them!

**Ziddy2343:**  
I'm tempted to say what I always say when someone gets kicked where it hurts, BUT I CAN'T BLAME IT ON THE ALCOHOL THIS TIME. Well... I can blame it on the sugar, but Nah.  
Alright, tell Marie that if she doesn't stop I'M GONNA MAKE KH2 INVOLVE HER FALLING IN LOVE WITH MANSEX AND NOT SORA. See if she does something like that again. -laughs evilly-  
And thank you!

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Thank you!  
I have read and reviewed your current chapter. I can't wait for the next chapter, for it shall have SRS BSNSS.  
I LOVE HOMEWORK! Well... I only like English and Media studies.

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**

Mountain Dew, please!  
Aw, that sucks, Yahoo! Ain't so Yahoo! Anymore. XD  
Oh, thank you!  
I'm trying to get these chapters out fast so I can start working on the others.

**Sayonara Yasashii Akumu:**  
Aw, thank you for reading!  
And I feel so happy that you find it a good story, I try my best and it seems I've pulled it off.  
I hope you stay tuned for the series I'll have going on.

**Animeangel10632:**  
I sent you a message replying to your review, but in short, I'm glad we were able to meet again. XD  
And all of my stuff is under the name of SWIRL3Y, like my youtube, deviant art, FOS, Luna and . If there is someone else with that name outside of those websites, it's not me.

* * *

Well, thank you for reading, everyone. I will have the next chapter up soon, I hope. XD


	23. Chapter TwentyThree:You're not alone

My baby – Jesse McCartney  
DJ got us falling in love again – Usher

Motivation for this story. XD

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Three: You're not alone**

Sora ran up to Ansem and attacked him once more, and I came in after dealing another blow to his bodyguard.

Ansem had lost a lot of health, and we too were getting a little worn out. But we needed to stop him, for the sake of the world, and for Ansy's sake.

Sora ran up to Ansem, and dealt another attack. Donald shouted while striking Ansem with thunder, and I pointed my blade at Ansem as I chanted one of my own spells. "Ruby Heart!"

Ansem blocked half of the hearts headed to him, but the rest did manage to hit him. Sora also pointed his blade and fired his fire spell. Ansem hit Donald real hard, and Goofy came in to pas him a health potion. Ansem floated a but higher, and he unleashed a flurry of fiery discs at us.

Sora, Donald, Goofy and I ran around trying to avoid some of the attacks, but most of them managed to hit us. Sora and Donald healed themselves, while I healed Goofy and I. We looked at Ansem, who was laughing evilly. Sora and I were beside each other, and we ran to Ansem with our Keyblades. I wasn't as fast as Sora, so I was a little behind, but he dealt the first attack, and I came in right after.

Ansem floated in the sky, and he suddenly disappeared. We tried running after him, but he was already too far. Sora gasped, and I looked to where he was looking. The trees started shaking, and then they started to split.

After the trees stopped splitting, we saw Ansem in the center. I took some deep breaths, and Sora also did the same.

"I hope this ends soon," I confessed. "I don't think I have enough stamina to keep fighting him."

"Don't worry," Sora comforted. "If you need to rest, let me know, and I'll protect you."

"Thanks," I said. If he was offering, I wasn't going to decline, even if my female pride didn't agree with it.

I stopped taking deep breaths, and it returned to normal. I looked at Ansem, who was just laughing and smiling deviously. I started running towards him, and everyone else followed after. There was some sand sticking out, so I jumped it and reached where Ansem was. Sora jumped in after, and from the corner of my eye I noticed Donald and Goofy were left outside.

The floor started to rumble, and a giant pure blood heartless came from out of no where. It punched the ground, which caused Sora and I to fall to the floor.

"I think I fought this guy when Destiny islands was being eaten by the darkness," said Sora.

"So you know how to deal with him?" I asked.

"Watch out for the punches, and he makes balls of darkness fall to the floor," he said. "Don't let them hit you. Other than that, just keep attacking him. He'll fall down quickly."

I nodded, and I began to attack him. For the most part, the heartless wasn't doing anything drastic, maybe because he was massively huge and barely fit the area in between the two trees? Probably.

As expected, the heartless started making balls out of darkness, and then he flung them at us. We avoided them, and we started attacking relentlessly. This was such a nice break, from fighting an incredibly hard person to fighting something that was loosing health quickly.

We attack some more, and then the heartless began to sprout out shadows from his hand. Sora was still fighting the big heartless, so I decided to take care of the shadows. Since the last time, it only took two hits to get rid of shadows, but now it's just one fell swoop and they're gone.

The shadows were gone, and I was back to hitting the bigger heartless. It wasn't too long when it started to tremble and fell over. It's heart disappeared and and it floated away. I took a quick breather, and when I caught up I saw Ansem coming into view. This guy had a lot of stamina, but in the end he was still going down.

Sora ran up to him, and attacked him from behind. I raised my hand, and chanted the spell for Ruby Heart. One thing that I noticed about Ansem was that he suddenly became more quicker and glided a lot. I figured as long as Sora was attacking and I was casting spell, we'd be okay.

"Keep attacking, Sora!" I shouted. "I'll back you up by casting spells!"

"Gotcha!" he exclaimed. "We'll switch after!"

I nodded, and positioned myself far from Ansem. It was good that I was equipped with a lot of ethers and Elixirs, because I was going to need them. I kept a close eye on Ansem, and examined his moves. They were basically all the same, save for the fact that he was quicker. After reading his moves, I begun casting spells towards him. That heartless bodyguard behind him was definitely hard to take down, but his attacks were the most predictable.

I fired a round of Diamond Heart, and then a round of Heart Light. Heart Light was way more effective now, so I decided to use it more often. Sora dealt two more attacks to Ansem, and he looked at me, signaling that he wanted to switch.

I took out my Keyblade and Sora and I ran past each other so we could switch. I lifted my blade and attacked Ansem, and then his bodyguard popped out in front. "Submit!" he said, and grabbed my arm and leg.

This heartless was smirking because he assumed that I was under his control, but in reality, the moment he tried taking control he was blasted away. I took the time to attack Ansem about three times consecutively, and then I jumped back a few before looking at the bodyguard. "You can't consume me with your darkness, you'll just get burned by the light."

I attacked again, but he blocked it. He lifted his hand and chanted a spell, but before he could actually say the name of the spell, Sora hit him with ice. I waved as a sign of my thanks and attacked Ansem after, and then Sora cat thunder in him. While he was firing spells at Ansem, I rolled out of the way and attacked right after. If we kept this up, we could have Ansem down in no time.

Sora called out my name, and it was the signal to switch. Without a moment to spend we switched, and I was back to casting my spells and Sora was attacking Ansem good. I looked at Ansem, and I noticed that he was trying to catch his breath. The fight we had with him before must have tired him out some, and I was happy about that.

Ansem's bodyguard came in front of Sora, and tried taking control of him. I wasn't going to let that happen, and so I tried to conjure up the powerful version of Heart Light. I clasped my hands together, and chanted a longer version of Heart Light."Let light seep through the darkness, and grant me strength. Heart Light!"

As like before, two white hearts appeared beside me, and multiple rays came flying through them. All of the rays hit the heartless, and some hit Ansem. I went to cast the weaker version of Heart Light after, and Ansem, along with his heartless bodyguard, stumbled. Sora composed himself after the take over, and landed three powerful blows to Ansem.

Ansem then did something that I didn't expect. He was circling both Sora and I, and he was going at top speed. He glided from one side to the other. And then he came in front of Sora and attacked him. I started doing it again, and I knew that I was going to get hit after. I tried keeping my eyes on him, but he was really fast. The next thing I know, I was hit from the back rather hard, and I feel to the floor.

I quickly got up to heal both Sora and I, and then we noticed Ansem in the middle of the field. We started to chuckle darkly, and we prepared for whatever he had in stores. A dark orb popped out from the ground beside me, and then another one popped right beside it. I ran away from them, and the orbs popped out of the ground, trying to attack both Sora and I.

As the orbs disappeared, I ran up to Ansem and landed a quick attack. Sora fired a fire spell, and I fired Heart Light. Sora ran towards Ansem and bent down near him while pulling out his leg, this caused Ansem to trip. I ran to Ansem, and attacked him as hard as I could.

"Oof!" I heard him say, and then I decided to hurt him again. Sora was far, but he pointed his blade to Ansem and cast thunder.

Ansem stopped for a second, and rubbed his forehead. We were close to making him fall again, just a little more. Sora and I both ran towards Ansem, and we both simultaneously landed an attack on him. Ansem stumbled, and we watched as dark clouds surrounded us.

Donald and Goofy got past the barrier, and met up with us. The dark clouds got darker and darker, and I stayed close to Sora.

"Whaa?" Donald questioned. We turned around, and heard Ansem once again.

"Behold the endless abyss!" he said. "Within it likes the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts!"

he turned over, and we saw a white door at the end. My eyes widened, what I had to protect, was right in front of me. So close, yet so far.

"Look as hard as you are able. You'll not find even the smallest glimmer of light," Ansem continued. "From those dark depths are all hearts born. Even yours."

Sora gasped, and looked down. I looked down with him, and a giant heartless ship laid in front of us. Ansem started chuckling. "Darkness conquers all worlds!"

suddenly gravity fell apart, and we started falling to the darkness. Donald and Goofy fell into a portal, and I felt Sora's hand grab mine. A gust of wind blew us apart however, and I was falling into a portal as well.

"Sora!" I shouted, trying to reach out to him. The portal swallowed me, and all I was able to see... was light.

**Final battle:  
Sora**

"Marie!" shouted Sora. He watched as Marie fell into a portal of light, and grew angry with Ansem separating them. He kept falling lower and lower into the darkness, until he heard Riku's voice.

_Giving up already? Come on, Sora. I thought you were stronger than that._

Sora kept falling, and eventually, he reached lower. However, his time was not now. He conjured the power to fly thanks to Tinker Bell, and flew high into the sky. He looked at Ansem, who was merged with the giant heartless ship.

The fight for his friends begun now, and even though Donald, Goofy and Marie were not present, he could still very well feel their presence.

He was not alone.

* * *

The final-final-final-FINAL battle has begun, and Marie is separated from Sora! And my let index finger hurts from typing. DX I'm never getting fake nails again!  
Stay tuned for the second last chapter; chapter 24!

Oh man, you guys. I have the first chapter of my KH: 359 1/2 days story done and I wanna post it! T_T but i can't, cause I have to wait till Memory game Finishes!

**ATTENTION!**  
For my story, "Square Ace High" first place goes to Sajere1 and second goes to a fellow deviantART artist who reads this story. Her username is AppleRawr27. There is a third place and although I don't mind female Ocs, I would love to get a male OC. XD

Thank you:  
**DarkMarionette182**

For placing this story in your story alert list! Much love!

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Maybe a victory kiss shall ensue? No one knows but me!  
And thank you! And oh my gosh, you're doing two of the things that I love to do. Going to school and babysitting!

**sajere1:**  
Oh, man. I hate that so much.  
I don't work atm, but when I do I'm gonna savor sleep.  
And thank you for submitting the info, I'll get to work on them.

**Taeniaea:**  
Lol, thank you!

**DarkMarionette182:**  
Hola! Thanks for reading!  
Thank you so much for the compliment, I usually base my stories on angst or drama. Romance is obviously there, but it isn't the only thing you'll see present.  
And thank you, I shall!

**Ruciro:**  
Xemnas is like pedobear, he must gtfo!  
And Mountain Dew is the only drink I'm able to stand. Coke and Pepsi are too bitter to me, personally. Mountain Dew is full of sweetness goodies!

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
Thanks!  
Oh, and that sucks, I can't live without it. It's like my coffee, haha.  
Lol, Yahoo fails. xD  
I wish I was in high school still. DX

**Sayonara Yasashii Akumu:**  
Haha, yes. Ansem was like a brother, if not, a fatherly type of person to her.  
She respects him very much.

**Ziddy2343:**  
D'awww~ She likes youuuusss. ^/^  
And I don't know what to say about Sora, his anti-form does not comprende with me.  
And don't hate meh! T_T I spread peace and love and joy!  
…...Pfff, as if.


	24. Chapter TwentyFour: You lost the game

The Catalyst – Linkin Park [this song is epic written in the form of music!]

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Four: You have lost the game**

I woke up, and I squinted my eyes. Man, who turned on the lights?

I noticed that I was floating, or rather, inside a ball of light that was floating. I adjusted my eyes to the light, and I saw a big white door in front of me. Kingdom hearts? No, it couldn't be. I tried moving my arms and legs, but I couldn't. I was numb for some odd reason, and I was starting to panic.

I looked around, and complete darkness, save for this ball of light I'm in, surrounded me. Where was Sora? How and why did I separate from him again? I gave a really deep and frustrated sigh, but then I heard a voice.

_'This ball of light will force the power out of you, and will open Kingdom Hearts. You have yet to serve your purpose, and now you will have the chance.'_

"It' you..!" I shouted. That corrupted, evil, idiotic voice. No doubt it was Ansem. I looked around, but I couldn't see him anywhere. Where the hell was he!

"Where are you, you coward!" I shouted. "Where's Sora! Where's Donald and Goofy-"

"Ahh!" I screamed. W-what the heck was that pain that I just felt?

_'Haha. Sora is battling I, yet I am able to switch my mind elsewhere. It seems I forgot to mention that while your power is being forced out of you, it will hurt, haha.'_

I felt another shock of pain, and I tried not to scream. This is really horrible, Sora was fighting alone, and I couldn't help him. My power was being taken away, and I'm in pain. I have to think of a way to get out of this, I want to fight by Sora's side.

Another wave of pain and power draining came again, and this time I let out another scream. I closed my eyes, hoping to make this pain go away. But, what I saw was weird.

I saw Sora fighting a really weird looking Ansem, like he was merged with the giant heartless ship. I opened my eyes, and I was back to the door. What the heck? What's going on? Why am I able to see Sora fight?

_'Being close to me gives you more power than you have. Since your heart is connected to that boy, you can see what he sees, and even talk to him telepathically. But this is only possible if you are near Kingdom Hearts.'_

I heard the voice that I had heard a lot of times before, that gentle, calming voice. I looked at the door, That voice... is it the voice of Kingdom Hearts?

"Are you... Kingdom Hearts?" I asked. "You've talked to me a lot, but I never knew who you were."

_'I am merely the voice. I do not have a body, thus I cannot be seen.'_

"Is this why you gave me your powers, so I could be the body?" I asked. Although I wasn't sure if I should be happy about it, because it would basically mean I'm just a vessel.

_'You were chosen by me because of the strength you carry. You have a heart that is stronger than the strongest men. In the end, however, you are still a human being. Don't think of yourself as a vessel.'_

She can hear what I'm thinking?... Creepy. Wait, I don't even know if Kingdom Hearts is a woman or a man. So I decided to ask. "Another question: Are you a man or a woman?"

_'I am none. I take the form of the voice that you first thought of. In this case, you first thought of your mother.'_

"Okay, so what do I call you? I can't keep calling you Kingdom Hearts," I said.

_'Call me whatever you like me to be called.'_

"...Stella," I said. "I'll call you Stella."

_'As you wish.'_

Stella has always been the name I wanted for my sister. I'm a single child, but I always wanted a little sister.

I shook my head, this is no time to be thinking about that! I looked at the door, and then I closed my eyes. I was still able to see Sora fight, and I wanted to know how I could talk to him.

"Stella, how can I talk to Sora?" I asked.

_'Create a link with him using something. Your necklace is a good subject. You'll know when you've created a link when you start to hear his voice. In order to create a link, however, keep thinking about him, and at the same time, focus on your necklace.'_

Another shock of pain hit me again, and I lowered my head to deal with the pain. I closed my eyes after, and I saw Sora. I kept thinking about him, and at the same time I started focusing on my necklace.

I kept doing this until I was able to hear grunts and the sounds of his Keyblade hitting Ansem. I kept thinking and focusing, and then I was able to hear Sora yelling spells, and yelling at Ansem. He was demanding where Donald, Goofy and I were. The link was created, now, all I had to do was talk.

"Sora!"

**Final battle:  
Sora**

_'Sora!"_

Sora blocked another attack from Ansem, and for a moment, he had Marie's voice. He shook his head and flew away from Ansem in order to heal.

_'Sora you dummy! Stop ignoring me!'_

Sora's eyes grew wide, was Marie talking to him, or was he losing his mind.

"Marie? Where are you? Are you okay? W-what's going on!" he asked, hoping to get an answer.

_'Yes it's me, and I'm alright. I'm in front of the door that Ansem showed us, the door of Kingdom Hearts. Look, I can't really explain but basically I'm talking to you because our hearts are connected.'_

"Okay," Sora said, understanding what Marie was telling him. "Can you make it to where I am?"

_'Um, not really. I'll inside a ball of light, and my powers are being forced out of me to open the door, so I can't really walk away.'_

"You said were you alright!" Sora exclaimed angrily.

_'Oops. Well, I didn't want you to worry! Just focus on fighting and defeating that imposter. Heart Light hurts him a lot, so use it!'_

"I can use your powers?" he asked.

_'Yes, so use it! It doesn't affect me since your using it through your power. I just gave you the ability to use it. I can't lend you my power since it's being drained out, I'm sorry.'_

"No, don't be," he replied. "It's better if you don't, because you'll lose more power like that."

_'Okay... I'm by your side, Sora. I'll always will be, so you're not alone. Let's show this loser who he's messing with!'_

"Okay!" Sora exclaimed. I felt relieved that Marie was alright, but worried about her powers being drained. He had to defeat Ansem quick, and with Marie by his side his adrenaline was pumped to the max.

Sora flew towards Ansem, and landed an attack to the evil man. He flew back a few, and pointed his blade to Ansem. "Heart Light!" he shouted.

Ansem was hit by the attack, and growled. He hadn't anticipated for this to happen. "I underestimated that girl. It seems she proves more useful than just a vessel."

_'I can't wait till he's gone. He's really ticking me off.'_

"You heard him?" Sora asked, flying towards Ansem.

_'It's like I can hear everything.'_

Sora flew closer, and attacked Ansem another time. He was doing good on his own, but now that he had someone to help, he hoped this battle would end soon.

_'Hey, watch out. I think he's going to fire some lasers.'_

"Okay," he said. He circled Ansem, and as Marie predicted, he began firing lasers towards Sora. Sora flew around to escape the lasers, and when they disappeared he came in and attacked Ansem another four times.

"Thanks, Marie," he said. He didn't get a reply, and he began to worry. "Marie?"

_'Sorry, I lost connection. We really need to defeat him quickly, I don't know how long I handle having my powers drained.'_

"Don't worry," Sora comforted. "I'll make sure you'll be safe."

**Kingdom Hearts:  
Marie**

"Oow!" I said as another shock of pain and power draining came. I constantly lowered my head to try and ease the pain, and it was working some.

_'Ansem lost half of his health. He keeps trying to heal himself, but I attack him before he does.'_

"Awesome," I said without any enthusiasm. This thing is horrible, I can't bother to be happy since I'm getting weaker.

_'You're sounding weaker by the minute. I'm almost close to defeating Ansem, don't worry.'_

"I'm not worried," I said. "I know you'll defeat him."

Sora was doing a good job blocking and fighting Ansem. We both hoped that this was the last battle, and we hoped everything would return to normal. I hope I can get out of here, and I hope we see Riku soon.

I wanna see my mom and dad too. I bet they miss me, but what if they moved on? I bet me coming back would surprise them, oh but what do I tell them? I stayed with a stranger who I eventually called my brother, and met a girl who I thought of as a sister? Then I fell into a coma for ten years and when I woke up I traveled to various worlds while falling in love?

Oh I'm sure they would believe all _that_.

I saw Sora destroy the heartless bodyguard that was behind Ansem, and FINALLY it fell down. All that was left was Ansem himself. I wish I could help, but this stupid barrier makes things worse.

_'Soon... Soon the power of darkness shall be mine!'_

My eyes widened, did he managed to get that much power already? No way! Damn, I have to tell Sora this. "Sora!" I exclaimed worriedly.

_'What?'_

"Ansem just said that the power of darkness is almost his," I said. "I'm not so sure, but I think that he means the door is almost opened."

_'That means your power is almost gone.'_

"Try using Heart Light more often," I said. "Don't use any other spells. Just keep using Heart Light."

_'Alright.'_

**The final battle:  
Sora**

Sora flew in closer to Ansem, and attacked his side. He flew away and pointed his blade to Ansem. "Heart Light!"

Ansem was getting more susceptible to this attack, and Sora just needed to attack him a little more with it to make him fall. He really did wish Donald and Goofy were here, as it would make the battle much quicker. He also wished Marie was with him in person, it would also make the battle go by quicker.

But alas, they weren't. Sora had to fight this evil abomination alone, and for the most part it was difficult and yet not so difficult. There were attacks that Ansem did that were easy to evade, but the other attacks that weren't hurt real bad.

Sora raised his blade and prepared to attack, but Ansem hit with his spear before he could, and Sora was sent flying a few flights back.

_'Sora, don't give up. I believe in you.'_

Sora floated aimlessly a bit, but got back to his position. He can't let Donald, Goofy or Marie down. He especially couldn't let Riku and Kairi, his best friends, down. Sora flew towards Ansem, and he prepared to attack again. Ansem got his spear and attacked Sora, but he missed.

Sora flew around Ansem and attacked him again, and then doing something differently, Sora raised his blade. A pink and white light appeared around it, and as he attacked Ansem, he simultaneously cast Heart Light. Causing double the damage.

Sora was suddenly sent into a portal of darkness inside the ship, and he heard a very familiar and relieving voice.

"Sora!" Goofy exclaimed happily.

"Goofy!" Sora replied.

Goofy was defending off some shadows, and Sora helped in the fight. Goofy managed to fend off some, and they were near to dying. Sora merely slashed them with one hit and they disappeared.

_'I see Goofy is safe.'_

"Good thing, too," he replied. Goofy looked at Sora, and gave a questioning look.

"Who're talking to?" he asked, blocking an attack.

"Marie fell into a portal," Sora said while attacking another shadow. "And now her power is being drained so it can open Kingdom Hearts."

"Gawrsh, we gotta hurry and defeat that Ansem fella," goofy said while blocking another attack.

"Ansem's almost down, and with your help we'll be done soon," Sora said. "We need to look for Donald too!"

Sora defeated the last remaining shadows, and they were brought out back to the main fighting area. A barrier was placed in front of Ansem, and Sora flew towards it to bring it down. Goofy also helped bringing it down.

**Kingdom Hearts:  
Marie**

my breathing was getting heavier and heavier, and to be honest, I don't think I could hold on any longer.

Sora was taking care of that barrier, and Goofy was helping him. I was thankful that Sora found Goofy, now the battle will end quicker. All we need is Donald, and they'll be done.

I could barely keep my eyes open, not that there was any reason to. But every time I open my eyes, I see the door getting bright and brighter. Couldn't Stella do anything to stop this?

"Stella...?" I asked. "Can't you help me out of this barrier?"

_'I have no physical form, so I cannot touch anything. The only thing I am able to provide you with is power. And my power has also been weakening.'_

"Ugh..." I said. "This sucks."

I closed my eyes, and I saw that Sora had taken down the barrier. Oh thank god.

**The final battle:  
Sora and Goofy**

Sora had brought down the barrier, and He flew towards Ansem so he could finish him off. Goofy followed close behind, but then they were brought back into another portal of darkness.

Sora immediately spotted Donald casting some spells on shadows, and was completely relieved. Donald looked over with an angry face. "Are you gonna help or not!"

Sora chuckled lightly and started attacking the hordes of shadows. Donald went to his usual spell casting techniques and Goofy healed and blocked, it certainly was great to have everyone with him now. Although, even though Marie was with him in his heart, she was still suffering.

"Marie are you still there?" Sora asked, and received a weird look from Donald. Goofy looked at him and explained what happened while Sora was still fighting and waiting for a reply.

_'I'm still here... But I feel so bad for not helping.'_

"We're almost done," he said. "We're just fighting a couple of shadows, and after that it's back to Ansem."

_'Okay... I'll be here... Not like I can go anywhere.'_

Sora sighed, and attacked another group of shadows. Donald had finished off another group and Goofy blocked some. Sora had finished off the last batch, and once again they were transported back into the main fight area.

The ship had completely disappeared, and only Ansem and his spear were left. Sora didn't mind, as Ansem was his main target anyways. Sora flew towards Ansem, and attacked him, but he blocked it. Donald fired a spell, and it made Ansem stumble a bit, and Sora managed to land a hit.

Goofy twirled near Ansem, and dealt some attacks. Sora and Donald came in with their attacks as well, and Donald cast thunder. Sora flew straight to Ansem, and with the same intention he has when he attacked and cast Heart Light at the same time, Sora began to get serious.

He lifted his blade, and for a moment, everything slowed down. The same pink and white glow appeared around Sora's blade, and out came Heart Light, along with an attack.

Ansem, who was drenched in pain, yelled and shouted. Sora, Donald and Goofy watched as the world's enemy clutched his heart. He disappeared, and Sora looked around. He was no where in sight.

But then all of a sudden, Sora, Donald and Goofy were transported to a new area.

* * *

O MAI.  
You're gonna have to wait for the FINAL CHAPTER. -squeals-

Thank you:  
**kh2 fan13  
I like Randomness  
gamemaster1991  
**  
For placing this in your favorites. Much love!

Thank you:  
**I like Randomness  
**  
For story alerting this. Much love to you as well!

**an1995616:**  
Sure no problem. Just let me know.  
And thank you! I hope you tune in for the finale.

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
The kiss will play a big part. I can't explain it, but it's gonna make you feel something.  
To be honest, I thought at first Marie's nobody should fall in love with Riku. But I'm still not sure. Maybe I should add another OC. XD HAY THIS CAN CALL FOR ANOTHER CONTEST. XD

And here is your update, and thank you!

**sajere1:**  
Thank you!  
I LOVE Jesse McCartney! He's the only reason why I LOVE Roxas. He doesn't know it, but he's gonna be my husband.

**Sayonara Yasashii Akumu:**  
LOL, I would have love to see it, too.  
Ahaha, and thank you!  
And I'm a really srs gamer, so I have to beat it. No questions about it. Video games bow to meh! LOL joking, but I am srs about them.

**Taeniaea:**  
Thank you!

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek:**  
I love coffee too!  
Lol yahoo. XD  
And I personally loved High school, and I wish I could go back.  
Sadly it is, but think on the bright side, we're closer to KH2. And that's gonna be filled with drama and the works. XD  
Aw, it's okay. There are some popular games that I've never played so I feel you!  
I know, right? I love twists and suspense! Thank you!

**Ziddy2343:**  
Yea I don't know what the deal was with Anti-form. It even pissed me off when I tried going into final form and then BAM! Anti-form.

I'm sorry, I've gone into super girly mode. XD Normal SWIRL3Y has returned.  
XIGBAR IS SO FRIGGIN' AWESOME THOUGH! DX

Love for the most part is true, I am a very lovable person. As for peace, I dunno... sometimes I bring disasters into people's homes. XD  
I don't know how to describe Love or peace. XD But Joy is for JOYA!(my last name)

Ahaha, more cliffhangers, my friend. More cliffhangers!  
I dunno about fluff, It's not so much my style for endings. But I think you'll either love it or hate it. O_o

Oh my, I love Naruto. I love any blonde actually, and the top of the hottie blondes is none other than my future husband, Jesse. XD

Thank you for the compliment, and I don't know. I think BBS will be scattered throughout the stories. Marie doesn't have much of a role and she only stays in Radiant Garden. But if I'm up to it, I'll probably do a mini-story of it.


	25. Chapter TwentyFive: Game Over

I kinda think this chapter isn't really good, but you tell me. We critique hard on ourselves, after all. The ending is short, but you know what they say: Short and sweet.

Oh and, **LISTEN TO SIMPLE AND CLEAN AT THE END!** T_T Love you, Hikki!

* * *

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Game Over**

Sora, Donald and Goofy floated as they saw Ansem rise up near them. It was incredible how he manages to stand after being attacked so many times.

Ansem laughed evilly, and looked at the trio darkly. "It is futile. The Keyblade alone cannot seal the door to darkness."

In an instant, the big white door that Sora saw before appeared, and beside it was Marie floating inside an orb of light.

"Marie!" Sora shouted.

"Kingdom Hearts!" Ansem shouted, grasping for the door. "Fill me with the power of darkness!"

**Kingdom Hearts:  
Marie**

"Fill me with the power of darkness!"

it was barely a whisper, I couldn't hear anything. Everything felt numb, and I was slowly losing my health. I hate to admit it, but I think this might be the end. My eyes felt heavy, and they slowly closed. All I was able to see was darkness... eternal and damned darkness.

_'Marie! Remember what I said... you're not darkness! You're light!'_

Sora..? Is that you? I tried opening my mouth, but it was too hard. I wanted to talk to Sora, tell him I'm sorry. Sorry that I can't make it back to the islands.

_'Please, Marie! Don't give up! I believe in you. Everyone believes in you!'_

I slowly opened my eyes, and suddenly, flashes of all the worlds appeared before me. Cid, Yuffie, Aerith, and Leon... they're counting on me. Everyone from all the worlds... they too, are counting on me. I've saved so many people... along with Sora, Donald and Goofy. Maybe I truly am... the light.

_'I have always told you that your heart is filled with light. You were mildly blinded by what everyone else said that you forgot one important thing: believe in yourself.'_

Stella... no, she's right. I am light! I know that now. I opened my eyes, and suddenly, I felt the power that I had once lost return to me.

"Supreme darkness..!" I heard Ansem say. The ball of light I was in lowered, and as it did, I regained more and more of my power. I reached the ground, and the ball of light disappeared.

"What is this?" I heard Ansem say as he looked at me. I cracked my knuckles, and I looked at Ansem.

"Hey, loser," I said. "It's time for you to go down!"

"Please, what you do is futile, Kingdom Hearts shall fill me with darkness!" Ansem shouted. I looked at Sora, who looked at the door.

"You're wrong," he said. "I know now, without a doubt."

"Kingdom Hearts..." he looked at me, and I nodded. "Is light!"

I closed my eyes, and for the first time in my life, I felt whole. While standing next to Kingdom Hearts, I felt completed. I clasped my hands together, and the door opened, revealing light. I looked at Ansem, who was hit by the light.

"This is game over for you!" I shouted.

Ansem struggled to move, and he was muttering some words. The light completely engulfed him, and in a matter of seconds he vanished. I sighed weakly, and bent down to catch my breath.

"Marie!" I heard Sora say from a distance. I looked up and I saw Sora, Donald and Goofy running towards me. I got up, and I smiled at all three of them.

"No time for reunions!" I said. "Help me close this door!"

Sora, Donald and Goofy ran towards the door and tried pushing it. The sad thing about everything, was that I was able to open the door without touching it. Now I had to close the door, and I had to do it the hard way.

Goofy gasped, and Donald grew angry. "Stop staring and keep pushing!"

Donald then gasped after, and both of the shouted. "The heartless!"

"Hurry!" shouted Donald.

"I can't..." Sora struggled.

"Don't give up!"

Sora looked at the hand on the other side. It was Riku.

"Riku!" I shouted. He looked at us, and also struggled to close the door on the other end.

"Come on, Sora, Marie!" he shouted. "Together, we can do it!"

"Okay!" exclaimed Sora, and I nodded.

We pushed the door while Riku pulled, and we were making little progress.

"It's hopeless!" Shouted Donald.

I looked past the door, and I saw two giant heartless monsters. In an instant, however, they disappeared. Donald and Goofy both gasped, and I wondered why. But then suddenly, I saw a bright light at the end of the other side.

"Your Majesty!" Goofy and Donald shouted in unison.

"Now, Sora, Marie! Let's close this door for good!" he said, taking out his Keyblade. Amazing, the king has a Keyblade as well.

"Close it, quickly!" Donald shouted.

"But..!" Sora protested.

"Don't worry," the king said. "There will always be a door to the light."

"Sora, you can trust King Mickey," Goofy assured.

"Now! They're coming!" shouted Riku.

"Donald, Goofy, thank you," said the king.

We pushed the door harder and harder, and Riku looked at us. "Take care of her."

I wondered what he meant by that, but Sora nodded. Sora, Donald, Goofy and I pushed the door one final time, and the door closed.

Sora stepped back a few steps, and I did as well. We took out our Keyblades, and pointed it at the door. It started to disappear, and we watched as it did. Sora looked around, and then turned around behind him. Kairi was all at the way at the end, and immediately, he ran to her.

I wanted to follow him, but Goofy held my shoulder and shook his head. I sighed, and looked as Sora ran to Kairi.

** Sora and Kairi**

"Kairi!" shouted Sora.

"Sora!" Kairi shouted in reply.

"Kairi, remember what you said," Sora reminded. "We'll always be in each other's hearts. We'll come back for you, I promise!"

Kairi looked at Sora, and then at Marie, who was all the way in the back. "I know you will!"

The little space that was between Sora and Kairi disappeared, and they were separated. Sora looked at Kairi went further and further away from him. Kairi looked as well, and then a tiny speck of light appeared in her hand. She looked up and saw many other specks of light fall from the sky. Soon enough, trees and huts appeared around her. Destiny islands had returned to it's normal way, and Kairi smiled, knowing that Sora finally brought their world back. As she watched Sora disappear, stars began to shoot to the sky, creating the night. Everything was indeed returning to normal.

Kairi looked around, and saw the secret cave that her, Sora and Riku frequently visited. She walked over to the cave, and smiled at all the drawings. She came across the drawing she and Sora drew for each other, but her mouth hung open at what was newly there.

A Paopu fruit being handed from Sora to Kairi.

Sora had told Kairi while they were drawing their faces that he thought this up because of the drawing that he saw before. The drawing of him and Marie. They drew the drawings right beside it, hoping that Marie would never be lonely if he drew more drawings around it. Of course, this was when they were younger.

Back then, Kairi didn't know who the drawing was from, and she probably will never know, but she felt a wave of sadness knowing that Sora drew him handing a Paopu fruit to the girl first.

Kairi touched the drawing of Sora and herself, and a single tear fell from her cheek. She grabbed a nearby rock, and started carving her handing a Paopu fruit back to Sora.

Although she knew Sora had feelings for Marie, she was still his friends, and his friends will always remain in his heart.

**Marie and Sora**

I walked up to Sora, who was still looking ahead. I didn't know what to say, Riku still went missing, and now Kairi was apart from us.

"Sora..? Are you okay?" I asked.

"I'll be fine," he said, smiling as he turned to me.

I lowered my head, and looked at the floor. To be honest, I was hoping we would return to Destiny islands, but that proved difficult right now.

"there's something I've been wanting to do for a while," he said. I looked up at him, and gave him a questioning look. He placed his hands on my arms, and started leaning towards me. My heart started to beat faster, was he going to kiss me?

Sora slowly closed his eyes, and mine started to close slowly as well.

**-x-**

Sora's lips were close to Marie's by an inch, but as he leaned in closer, his lips ran through her's.

Sora immediately opened his eyes, and horror filled them. Marie opened her eyes after realizing nothing was happening, and she was faced with Sora's terrified look.

"Sora? What's wrong?" she asked with worry.

"Marie, you're disappearing!" he shouted as his voice began to break down.

Marie looked at her arms, and noticed that she was nearly transparent. All of a sudden, a wave of fear and sadness hit her. She tried calling out to Stella, but she did not respond, and so, Marie was only able to think of one thing:

Since the door disappeared, was she disappearing?

"Sora..." she said. "I think...I'm disappearing just like that door."

Sora's horrified look only intensified, and without giving a care, tears began to fall from his face. "You can't disappear! Marie, please! Don't disappear!"

Marie saw the tears on Sora's face, and a tear came falling from her cheek. A saddened look that Marie thought she could never have appeared, and in soon time, a faint light appeared around her.

Sora tried grabbing her, but he went through her. He turned around, and even more tears fell from his cheeks. Marie turned around, and began to speak, but he could hear nothing.

In return, he began to shout for her, but she also could hear nothing. They were so close to each other, yet they could not hear each other's words.

Before Marie completely disappeared, she hoped that maybe he could her last words.

"I love you."

**- The End** -

* * *

Waaahh~

I hope you guys enjoyed the FINAL chapter of 'Game Over'.  
I myself felt like the first half was horrible, but I think I did a pretty good job during the end. In any case, I would like to thank you guys for sticking around and reading this story. It is the first that I managed to finish -pats shoulder- but certainly not the last.

Also I'd like thank Degrassi for helping me create Marie. My favorite character on that show named Claire cut her hair for the new season, and I completely loved it. Thus, I made a drawing of a random character with short hair. Then Marie was created. Created asexually I might add. XD

Anyways, please sit tight and hang out for the sequel 'Memory Game'. All reviews posted on this story will be answered in the first chapter of 'Memory Game' so no need to worry. Of course, after the first chapter unfortunately, I will not respond openly.

Now, doing something differently. I thank everyone in the list for placing this story in your favorites, I truly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart(The list is long, and in alphabetical order and I added the ones who recently favored this story):  
**1st class Solider Girl13  
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**  
Also, I thank everyone who placed this story in their story alert. You guys are just as important as those who placed this story in their favorites, and I truly am happy that this story made it's way onto your list(I also included the one who recently placed this story in their list):  
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Thank you!

**Lele-the-Greek-Geek :**  
Awe, you'll love it. I don't know how different American schools are from Canadian schools, but I think you'll enjoy it. XD

I really hope this chapter was to your liking, and yes, now we are one two stories closer to KH2. XD Blue ice-cream is the bomb.  
Oh, and I'll try my best to make sure you understand what's going on in the next story, Although, if you wanted to know the plot, just learn about reverse/rebirth. That's all I really have to say. XD

Aww, no it ain't. If you reply before I have the first chapter of Memory Game out, I'll still answer openly. But either way I'll reply.

**xLiesOfLovex:**  
Mmmm, Milk. XDXDXD

Oh my, thank you! I am truly honored that you called this story epic. I read your story, and although I forgot to review, I will say that it's extremely interesting, and so far, I'm loving Saya!  
Ahaha, no I get you. I hope you liked the ending!

**sajere1:**  
Ahaha, it is, isn't it?  
And YES! I LOVE JESSICA ALBA! Oh my, you know me so well~

**Alexandria Volturi:**  
Thank you for giving me info on your OC, and I hope this ending was up to par. I didn't want them to kiss just _yet_. I've planned something even better for their first kiss.

**Sayonara Yasashii Akumu:**  
Ahaha, you can always watch it on Utube! XD  
But aww DX I still have my PS2 just in case I wanna relive those days of KH. So far I haven't. :(

**kh2 fan13:**  
Why thank you! I hope you liked the ending!

**Luthien Eriol:**  
Riku was controlled by Ansem, so he was still with Ansem when Sora was fighting him. I think it was until they beat him that Riku was able to gain his body back, And thank you! I hope you liked the ending!


End file.
